歌会 (gē huì) — singing party, singing gathering

Definition

noun
singing partysinging gathering
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 歌会。
    Wǒ men shè qū měi nián xià tiān dōu huì jǔ bàn yì chǎng gē huì.
    Our community holds a singing party every summer.
  • 歌会。
    Zhè cì gē huì xī yǐn le hěn duō mín gē ài hào zhě cān jiā.
    This singing gathering attracted many folk song enthusiasts to participate.
  • 歌会，。
    Zài gē huì shàng, dà jiā lún liú yǎn chàng zì jǐ zuì xǐ huan de gē qǔ.
    At the singing party, everyone took turns singing their favorite songs.

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.

歌gēsinging
会huìgathering

「歌」singing and「会」gathering together name a singing party.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
欠欠qiànblow
Sound part声符shēngfú
哥
哥gē歌gē
Same sound today

The shape 歌 uses 哥 for the sound and 欠, meaning blow. It came from a form of 哥 used for singing.

Open 歌 →

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 會; 会 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
合合héto meet
Sound part声符shēngfú
𡆧
𡆧𡆧會huì
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

Traditional 會 pairs 合 (to meet) with 𡆧, an original form for ironware, to give the sound. The simplified 会 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the original parts.

Open 会 →

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