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纪念日 (jì niàn rì) — commemorative day; anniversary; memorial day

Definition

纪念日 is a specific day marked for remembrance (a wedding anniversary, National Day, a memorial). 纪念 is the verb/noun 'to commemorate'; 周年 is the numbered anniversary itself (e.g. 十周年).

noun
commemorative dayanniversarymemorial day
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 纪念日。
    Xià ge yuè shì wǒ men jié hūn shí zhōu nián de jì niàn rì.
    Next month is our tenth wedding anniversary.
  • 纪念日，。
    Guó qìng jì niàn rì nà tiān, jiē shàng guà mǎn le guó qí.
    On National Day, the streets are full of national flags.
  • 纪念日，。
    Měi nián zhè ge jì niàn rì, wǒ men dōu huì qù sǎo mù.
    Every year on this memorial day, we go to sweep the graves.

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.

纪念commemorate
纪jìrecord念niànremember
联合Coordinate
日rìday

The commemoration 纪念 marks the day 日, giving a memorial 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 紀; 纪 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糸糸mìsilk
Sound part声符shēngfú
己
己jǐ紀jì
Same sound today

The traditional form 紀 pairs 糸, silk, with 己 as the sound part; the simplified 纪 is a shorthand.

Open 纪 →

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

念 combines 今, an upside-down mouth, with 心, the heart, to listen to one's heart.

Open 念 →

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

日 originally drew the sun. A mark was added inside to tell it apart from similar square shapes.

Open 日 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5Days & WeeksFestivals & Holidays

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