花腔 (huā qiāng) — (noun) coloratura (elaborate vocal technique in opera); (noun) flowery but deceptive talk, rhetoric

Definition

花腔 has two unrelated senses: in opera it refers to coloratura (elaborate vocal runs); in everyday speech it means flowery, insincere talk used to deceive.

noun
coloratura (elaborate vocal technique in opera)flowery but deceptive talkrhetoric
Easily confused

Examples

  • 花腔。
    Zhè wèi nǚ gāo yīn yǐ chàng huā qiāng zhù chēng.
    This soprano is famous for singing coloratura.
  • 花腔，。
    Bié tīng tā de huā qiāng, tā zhǐ shì zài piàn rén.
    Don't listen to his flowery talk — he's just trying to deceive people.
  • 花腔，。
    Tā nà yí tào huā qiāng shuō dé tiān huā luàn zhuì, dàn méi rén xiāng xìn.
    He spun that whole spiel of sweet talk so floridly, but nobody believed it.

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.

花huāflower-like
腔qiāngtune

The 花 flower-like elaboration of a 腔 tune gives coloratura or flowery talk.

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cǎograss; plant
Sound part声符shēngfú
化
化huà花
Same sound today

花 pairs 艹 (grass; plant) with 化, which gives the sound.

Open 花 →

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

腔 is made from 肉 (meat; flesh) plus 空 (empty; hollow), where 空 supplies the sound.

Open 腔 →

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