梦呓 (mèng yì) — sleep talking, somniloquy; gibberish, nonsense, rigmarole

Definition

Literary word for 'sleep-talking' (the literal sense), and figuratively for incoherent nonsense or gibberish in writing or speech. Mostly written; in everyday speech use 说梦话 for sleep-talking.

noun
sleep talkingsomniloquygibberishnonsenserigmarole

Examples

  • 梦呓,。
    Tā wǎn shàng jīng cháng shuō mèng yì, chǎo dé qī zi shuì bù hǎo.
    He often talks in his sleep at night, disturbing his wife's rest.
  • 梦呓,。
    Zhè piān lùn wén quán shì mèng yì, háo wú luó ji kě yán.
    This paper is all gibberish, with no logic at all.
  • 梦呓,。
    Bié tīng tā de mèng yì, tā gēn běn bù dǒng zhè jiàn shì.
    Don't listen to his nonsense — he doesn't understand this matter at all.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

呓yìsleep-talk

“梦” gives the dream context and “呓” the murmuring: sleep talking or nonsense.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 夢; 梦 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
Sound part声符shēngfú
瞢
瞢méng夢mèng
Same sound today

The traditional form 夢 pairs 夕 (night) with 瞢, which gives the sound; its older form showed a person lying with an eye emphasized.

Open 梦 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 呓 →

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