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聪明人 (cōng míng rén) — a smart person; an intelligent person

Definition

noun
a smart personan intelligent person
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 聪明人。
    Tā zhēn shì yí gè cōng míng rén.
    He is really a smart person.
  • 聪明人。
    Dà jiā dōu jué de tā shì cōng míng rén.
    Everyone thinks she is a smart person.
  • 聪明人。
    Zhè ge gōng zuò xū yào yí wèi cōng míng rén.
    This job needs a smart person.

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.

聪明clever
聪cōngacute明míngbright
联合Coordinate
人rénperson

聪明 means clever and 人 means person, so the word denotes an intelligent person.

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 聰; 聪 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
囪
囪cōng聰cōng
Same sound today

The traditional form 聰 has 耳, the ear, beside a right side made of 囪, a window giving the sound, over 心, the heart; the simplified 聪 is a later abbreviation.

Open 聪 →

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

明 combines 日 (sun) and 月 (moon), showing the sun just rising while the moon has not yet set, or two bright objects in the sky, to express brightness.

Open 明 →

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →
Appears in
People (General)

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