电闪 (diàn shǎn) — lightning flashes | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literary verb meaning 'lightning flashes' — used in set phrases like 电闪雷鸣, not in everyday speech. A more common spoken synonym is 闪电.

verb

lightning flashes

电闪，。
Wài miàn diàn shǎn léi míng, bào fēng yǔ lái le.
Outside, lightning flashes and thunder roars—the storm is coming.
电闪，。
Yí dào diàn shǎn huá guò yè kōng, shùn jiān zhào liàng le dà dì.
A flash of lightning streaked across the night sky, instantly illuminating the earth.
，电闪。
Tā zhàn zài chuāng qián, kàn zhe yuǎn chù diàn shǎn bú duàn.
He stood by the window, watching the continuous lightning flashes in the distance.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

电diànlightning

电 lightning and 闪 flash mean lightning flashing.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 電; 电 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

雨雨yǔrain

Sound part声符shēngfú

申

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

For the traditional form 電, 雨 (rain) sits with 申, read shēn and meaning lightning.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 閃; 闪 is its simplified writing.

門人閃

In the traditional 閃, 人 (person) appears inside 門 (gate), showing a person running through a gate. The simplified 闪 is a later shorthand.