灰鲸 (huī jīng) — gray whale | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

gray whale

Measure word · 头

Examples

灰鲸。
huī jīng Shì hǎi yáng zhōng yì zhǒng dà xíng bǔ rǔ dòng wù.
The gray whale is a large marine mammal.
，灰鲸。
Měi nián dōng tiān, huī jīng dōu huì qiān xǐ dào wēn nuǎn de hǎi yù.
Every winter, gray whales migrate to warm waters.
灰鲸。
Bǎo hù huī jīng de shēng cún huán jìng fēi cháng zhòng yào.
Protecting the gray whale's habitat is very important.

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.

The 灰鲸 is a 鲸, whale, colored 灰, gray.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

又又yòuhand
火火huǒfire

灰 shows 火 (fire) that can be touched by 又 (hand), meaning ash.

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 鯨; 鲸 is its simplified writing.

魚京鯨

Meaning part形符xíngfú

魚魚yúfish

Sound part声符shēngfú

京

京jīng鯨jīng

Same sound today

The traditional form 鯨 pairs 魚 (fish) with 京 for the sound; the simplified 鲸 keeps that same 京 sound part.

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