童趣 (tóng qù) — childlike charm; the innocent delight of childhood

Definition

A literary word for the innocent, playful charm of childhood — the quality in art, writing, or scenes that evokes a child's pure delight.

noun
childlike charmthe innocent delight of childhood

Examples

  • 童趣。
    Zhè běn shū chōng mǎn le tóng qù.
    This book is full of childlike charm.
  • 童趣。
    Tā de huà hěn yǒu tóng qù.
    His paintings have a lot of childhood innocence.
  • 童趣。
    Hái zi men de xiào shēng ràng rén gǎn shòu dào chún zhēn de tóng qù.
    The laughter of children makes one feel the pure delight of childhood.

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
趣qùcharm

“童” means child and “趣” means charm, so it means childlike charm.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
走走zǒuwalk
Sound part声符shēngfú
取
取qǔ趣qù
Same sound today

趣 has 走, showing walking or hurrying, and 取, which gives the sound; the shape points to moving toward something.

Open 趣 →

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