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艺术史 (yì shù shǐ) — art history

Definition

noun
art history

Examples

  • 艺术史。
    Wǒ dà xué shí zhǔ xiū yì shù shǐ.
    I majored in art history in college.
  • 艺术史。
    Zhè xué qī wǒ men xuǎn le yì shù shǐ kè.
    This semester we chose an art history course.
  • 艺术史。
    Tā duì zhōng guó yì shù shǐ hěn yǒu yán jiū.
    He has done a lot of research on Chinese art history.

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.

艺术art
艺yìskill术shùtechnique
联合Coordinate
史shǐhistory

艺术 names the field of art, and 史 adds history.

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
艹Written in full as艸cǎo
Sound part声符shēngfú
乙
乙yǐ艺yì
Same sound today

In 艺, the top 艹 points to plants, and the lower 乙 gives the sound.

Open 艺 →

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 術; 术 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
行行xíngstreet, path
Sound part声符shēngfú
朮
朮zhú術shù
Same sound today

The traditional form 術 has 行 (street, path) beside 朮, which gives the sound; the simplified 术 is a later shorthand.

Open 术 →

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

The old drawing showed someone holding a flag-like or writing tool, indicating the act of recording events; the exact inner shape is unclear.

Open 史 →
Appears in
Art & Fine ArtsHistory

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