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穿着 (chuān zhuó) — attire; clothing; dress

Definition

Refers to a person's overall outfit or style of dress, not clothes as objects. More about 'what someone is wearing' than 衣服 ('clothes' as items) and more written/formal than 衣裳 (spoken).

noun
attireclothingdress
Measure word · 身

Examples

  • 穿着。
    Tā de chuān zhuó fēi cháng dé tǐ.
    His attire is very appropriate.
  • 穿着。
    Zhè jiā diàn de chuān zhuó hěn yǒu tè sè.
    This store's clothing is quite distinctive.
  • 穿着。
    Cān jiā hūn lǐ yào zhù yì chuān zhuó.
    When attending a wedding, you should pay attention to your attire.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

穿chuānwear
着zhedress/wear

The meanings of 穿 and 着 both involve putting on clothes, together giving the sense of attire.

Characters in this word

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

穿 puts 穴 (cave) and 牙 (tooth) together to show passing through or penetrating.

Open 穿 →

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 著; 着 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
艸艸cǎograss; plant
Sound part声符shēngfú
者
者zhě著zháo
Same sound today

The traditional form 著 puts 艸 (grass; plant) above 者, which gives the sound; the simplified 着 is a later shorthand.

Open 着 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Clothing5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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