视觉 (shì jué) — sight; vision; visual (sense or perception) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

视觉 names the sense of sight itself ('vision') as a faculty. Compare 视力 (eyesight acuity) and 视线 (line of sight) — 视觉 is the perceptual ability, not what you look at or how clearly.

noun

sightvisionvisual (sense or perception)

Examples

视觉。
Māo de shì jué bǐ rén lèi gèng mǐn ruì.
Cats have sharper vision than humans.
视觉。
Zhè fú huà zài shì jué shàng hěn yǒu chōng jī lì.
This painting has great visual impact.
视觉。
Tā yīn wèi shì gù shī qù le yòu yǎn de shì jué.
He lost vision in his right eye due to an accident.

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.

视 and 觉 combine to mean the sense of seeing, hence sight or vision.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 視; 视 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

見見jiànsee

Sound part声符shēngfú

示

示shì視shì

Same sound today

The story is about the traditional form 視: it combines 見, meaning see, with 示, which gives the sound shì.

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 覺; 觉 is its simplified writing.

𦥯見覺

Meaning part形符xíngfú

見見jiànsee

Sound part声符shēngfú

𦥯

𦥯𦥯覺jué

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

The traditional form 覺 pairs 見, a part that means see, with 𦥯, a part that gives the sound; simplified 觉 is a later abbreviation.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6 Senses

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