礼拜五 (lǐ bài wǔ) — Friday | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

Friday

礼拜五。
Zhè zhōu lǐ bài wǔ wǒ men yào kāi gè huì.
We have a meeting this Friday.
礼拜五？
lǐ bài wǔ Wǎn shàng nǐ yǒu kòng ma?
Are you free on Friday evening?
，。
Xià lǐ bài wǔ shì guó qìng jié, fàng jià sān tiān.
Next Friday is National Day; we have three days off.

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.

礼拜week

联合Coordinate

礼拜 names the week, and 五 marks the fifth day.

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 禮; 礼 is its simplified writing.

礻豊禮

Meaning part形符xíngfú

礻Written in full as示shìaltar

Sound part声符shēngfú

豊

豊lǐ禮lǐ

Same sound today

The traditional form 禮 pairs 礻 (altar) with 豊, a sound part, for performing rites at the altar; the simplified 礼 is a later shorthand.

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

拜 combines 扌 (hand, written fully as 手) with 𠦪 (herbs), showing a hand holding herbs as a gift.

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

An older form had a crossed mark between a top bar and a bottom bar. The modern 五 keeps those bars, while the original idea is uncertain.

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