白虎星 (bái hǔ xīng) — (noun, derogatory, superstitious) a woman believed to be a jinx to her husband (in Chinese folk belief)

Definition

白虎星 (báihǔxīng) is a folk-belief superstition term: a woman thought to bring bad luck or even death to her husband. It is derogatory and reflects a discriminatory traditional idea about women.

noun
(noun, derogatory, superstitious) a woman believed to be a jinx to her husband (in Chinese folk belief)

Examples

  • ，白虎星。
    Zài gǔ dài, yǒu xiē mí xìn de rén rèn wéi bái hǔ xīng huì gěi zhàng fu dài lái è yùn.
    In ancient times, some superstitious people believed that a white-tiger-star woman would bring bad luck to her husband.
  • 白虎星，。
    Tā yīn wèi bèi shuō chéng bái hǔ xīng, hūn yīn yì zhí bú shùn lì.
    Because she was called a white-tiger-star woman, her marriage was always unlucky.
  • 白虎星。
    Zhè zhǒng bái hǔ xīng de shuō fǎ qí shí shì duì nǚ xìng de qí shì.
    This kind of white-tiger-star saying is actually discrimination against women.

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.

白虎white tiger
白báiwhite虎hǔtiger
偏正Modifier + head
星xīngstar

From 白, 虎, and 星: the white-tiger star in folk belief.

Characters in this word

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

白 is thought to picture either an acorn or a human head.

Open 白 →

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

虎 originally drew a tiger's head. Its body disappeared, and the legs and tail became the lower part.

Open 虎 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

The top of 星 is a later simplified form of 晶, twinkling stars; the bottom 生 shows the sound.

Open 星 →

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