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童谣 (tóng yáo) — nursery rhymes; traditional children's folk rhymes

Definition

Traditional folk nursery rhymes, often passed down across generations. The example shows it refers to sung or recited verses for children, distinguishing it from modern children's songs (儿歌).

noun
nursery rhymestraditional children's folk rhymes
Measure word · 首

Examples

  • 童谣。
    Wǒ xiǎo shí hou nǎi nai jīng cháng jiào wǒ chàng tóng yáo.
    When I was little, my grandma often taught me nursery rhymes.
  • 童谣。
    Zhè xiē tóng yáo liú chuán le jǐ bǎi nián.
    These nursery rhymes have been passed down for hundreds of years.
  • 童谣。
    Lǎo shī ràng tóng xué men bèi sòng yì shǒu tóng yáo.
    The teacher asked the students to recite a nursery rhyme.

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.

童tóngchild
谣yáofolk song

'童' (child) and '谣' (folk song) mean a song for children.

Characters in this word

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

  • 䇂䇂䇂chisel
  • 見見jiànkneeling person with a huge eye

The form 童 comes from a pairing of 䇂 (a chisel) with 見 (a kneeling person with a huge eye), depicting a person having an eye gouged out.

Open 童 →

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 謠; 谣 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yán
Sound part声符shēngfú
䍃
䍃䍃謠yáo
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 謠 puts 言, meaning speech, beside 䍃, which supplies the sound; the simplified 谣 is a later shorthand.

Open 谣 →
Appears in
Literature & Poetry

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