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衣衫 (yī shān) — clothing, clothes, dress (in general)

Definition

Literary/formal word for 'clothes', used in writing rather than everyday speech, where 衣服 is the default. Often appears in set phrases like 衣衫褴褛 (tattered clothing).

noun
clothingclothesdress (in general)

Examples

  • 衣衫，。
    Tā de yī shān fēi cháng pò jiù, xiǎn de hěn qióng.
    His clothes are very tattered, making him look poor.
  • 著衣衫。
    Zhè wèi lǎo rén chuān zhuó zhěng jié de yī shān.
    This old man is wearing neat clothes.
  • 。
    Tā wèi zì jǐ shè jì le yí tào xīn yī shān.
    She designed a new set of clothes for herself.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

衣yīclothing
衫shānshirt

衣 and 衫 both refer to garments, so together they mean clothing in general.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 衣 comes from an outline of the chest and upper clothing.

Open 衣 →

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
衣衣yī
Sound part声符shēngfú
彡
彡shān衫shān
Same sound today

衫 uses 衣 to show it is a garment and 彡 to give the sound.

Open 衫 →
Appears in
Clothing

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