猛禽 (měng qín) — bird of prey | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

bird of prey

Measure word · 只

Examples

猛禽。
měng qín Shì chī ròu de niǎo lèi.
Birds of prey are meat-eating birds.
猛禽。
Zhè zhī měng qín de chì bǎng hěn dà.
This bird of prey's wings are very large.
猛禽。
Cǎo yuán shàng yǒu hěn duō zhǒng měng qín.
There are many kinds of birds of prey on the grassland.

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.

猛 conveys fierceness and 禽 a bird or animal, together naming a bird of prey.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

孟

Same sound today

猛 pairs 犬 (dog) with 孟, and 孟 gives the sound.

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

The earliest 禽 drew a net. A sound part was later added, and the old net and sound shapes changed into today's 禽.

Appears in

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