烈马 (liè mǎ) — spirited horse; fiery steed

Definition

noun
spirited horsefiery steed
Measure word · 匹
Easily confused

Examples

  • 烈马，。
    Cǎo yuán shàng yǒu yì pǐ liè mǎ, shuí dōu bù gǎn kào jìn.
    There is a spirited horse on the grassland — no one dares to get close.
  • 烈马。
    Tā xìng gé xiàng liè mǎ yí yàng nán yǐ xùn fú.
    His personality is as hard to tame as a fiery steed.
  • 烈马，。
    Nà pǐ liè mǎ zhōng yú bèi xùn fú le, xiàn zài hěn wēn shùn.
    That spirited horse was finally tamed and is now very gentle.

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.

烈lièfierce
马mǎhorse

烈 describes fierceness and 马 is a horse, so the pair means a spirited horse.

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
灬Written in full as火huǒfire
Sound part声符shēngfú
列
列liè烈liè
Same sound today

烈 pairs 列 for the sound with 灬, a form of 火 (fire).

Open 烈 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 馬; 马 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 馬 shows a horse with its head facing left, a flowing mane, and two legs standing vertically.

Open 马 →

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