灰鹅 (huī é) — gray goose, greylag goose | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

gray goosegreylag goose

Measure word · 只

Examples

灰鹅。
Wǒ zài hú biān kàn dào yì zhī huī é.
I saw a gray goose by the lake.
灰鹅。
Zhè zhǒng huī é de máo shì huī sè de.
This kind of gray goose has gray feathers.
，灰鹅。
Qiū tiān dào le, huī é kāi shǐ wǎng nán fēi.
Autumn arrived, and the gray geese start flying south.

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.

鹅égoose

“灰” gray and “鹅” goose make a gray goose.

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 鵝; 鹅 is its simplified writing.

我鳥鵝

Meaning part形符xíngfú

鳥鳥niǎo

Sound part声符shēngfú

我

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 鵝, 鳥 shows it is a bird and 我 gives the sound; the simplified 鹅 is a later shorthand, not the historical shape.

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