歇斯底里 (xiē sī dǐ lǐ) — hysteria (medical condition or extreme emotional state)

Definition

A loanword for 'hysteria': in everyday use it describes someone losing emotional control — laughing or crying wildly, panicking, or throwing a tantrum. As a 的-attribute it can modify a noun to mean 'hysterical' (e.g. 歇斯底里的笑声).

noun
hysteria (medical condition or extreme emotional state)

Examples

  • 歇斯底里
    Tā tū rán fā chū yí zhèn xiē sī dǐ lǐ bān de xiào shēng.
    She suddenly burst out with hysterical laughter.
  • 歇斯底里
    Nà ge rén huàn le yán zhòng de xiē sī dǐ lǐ.
    That person developed severe hysteria.
  • 歇斯底里
    Tā de xiē sī dǐ lǐ ràng suǒ yǒu péng you dōu fēi cháng dān xīn.
    His hysteria made all his friends very worried.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
音译yīnyìTransliteration

The characters spell the sound of a foreign word; their individual meanings play no part.

The characters 歇斯底里 spell the foreign sound of hysteria and do not carry separate meanings here.

Sound-only characters

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
Sound part声符shēngfú
xiē
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

歇 uses 曷 for its sound hé and 欠 for its meaning.

Open 歇 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 斯 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
广广guǎngbuilding
Sound part声符shēngfú
Same sound today

底 pairs 广 (building) with 氐, pointing to the bottom or foundation of a building. Some read 氐 as a bowing figure or tree root, adding a sense of 'down'.

Open 底 →

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 裡; 里 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 里 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (里, 里面) it is 裡; in others (公里) it is 里 or 裏.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
Written in full asclothes
Sound part声符shēngfú
Same sound today

The form 裡 pairs 衤 (clothes) with 里 as a sound component.

Open 里 →
Appears in

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