肖像画 (xiào xiàng huà) — portrait painting | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

portrait painting

Measure word · 幅

Examples

肖像画。
Zhè fú xiào xiàng huà shì zhù míng huà jiā huà de.
This portrait was painted by a famous artist.
肖像画。
Bó wù guǎn lǐ shōu cáng le hěn duō xiào xiàng huà.
The museum has many portraits in its collection.
肖像画。
Tā huā le yì nián shí jiān wán chéng zhè fú xiào xiàng huà.
It took him a year to finish this portrait.

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.

肖像portrait

肖xiàolikeness像xiàngimage

联合Coordinate

画huàpainting

The likeness/image and painting combine to mean a painting of a person's likeness.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

月月yuèmoon

Sound part声符shēngfú

小

小xiǎo肖xiào

Same sound today

肖 combines 小, which gives the sound, with 月, the moon.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

亻象像

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

象

Same sound today

像 uses 亻, the side form of 人 (person), with 象 giving the sound.

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 畫; 画 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

聿聿yùbrush

Sound part声符shēngfú

規

規guī畫huà

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 畫 pairs 聿, a brush, with 規 for its sound. The simplified 画 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the old parts.

Appears in

Art & Fine Arts

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