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耳熟 (ěr shóu) — familiar to the ear (of a sound, name, or melody)

Definition

Means a sound, name, or melody sounds familiar because you've heard it before — recognition, not deep knowledge. Usually pairs with 详 (as in 耳熟能详) to mean 'heard so often you can recite it.'

adjective
familiar to the ear (of a sound, name, or melody)

Examples

  • 耳熟。
    Zhè ge míng zì tīng qǐ lái hěn ěr shóu.
    This name sounds familiar.
  • 耳熟。
    Nà shǒu gē de xuán lǜ hěn ěr shóu.
    The melody of that song sounds familiar.
  • 耳熟。
    Tā de shēng yīn ràng wǒ jué de hěn ěr shóu.
    His voice feels very familiar to me.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

耳ěrear
熟shúfamiliar

耳 refers to the ear, and 熟 says that something is familiar to it.

Characters in this word

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

耳 is drawn as a picture of an ear.

Open 耳 →

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

熟 combines 孰 (cooked; ripe) with 灬 (fire), showing food cooked with fire.

Open 熟 →
Appears in
Senses

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