蒙太奇 (méng tài qí) — montage (film editing technique) | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Film-editing term for cutting and assembling shots to create meaning or rhythm. Used in film criticism and screenwriting; learners will mostly encounter it in discussions of cinema.

noun

montage (film editing technique)

Examples

蒙太奇。
Zhè bù diàn yǐng shǐ yòng le dà liàng de méng tài qí shǒu fǎ.
This film uses a lot of montage techniques.
蒙太奇。
Dǎo yǎn tōng guò méng tài qí jiāng bù tóng chǎng jǐng lián jiē qǐ lái.
The director connects different scenes through montage.
蒙太奇。
Zǎo qī de méng tài qí shí yàn duì diàn yǐng yǔ yán yǐng xiǎng shēn yuǎn.
Early montage experiments had a profound impact on film language.

Origin

Single-morpheme word

构词法gòucífǎ

音译yīnyìTransliteration

The characters spell the sound of a foreign word; their individual meanings play no part.

It spells a foreign sound; 蒙太奇 itself carries no separate meanings.

Sound-only characters

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

艹冡蒙

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎograss

Sound part声符shēngfú

冡

冡měng蒙méng

Same sound today

蒙 combines 艹 (grass) with 冡, which supplies the sound.

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

太 is a modified form of 大, with an extra dot added to show 'too big'.

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

大可奇

Meaning part形符xíngfú

大大dàbig; great

Sound part声符shēngfú

可

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

奇 pairs 大 (big; great) with 可, a sound part.

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