语气 (yǔ qì) — tone of voice, manner of speaking; (grammatical… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

语气 is the 'tone' of speech — how something is said rather than the words themselves. Unlike 声调 (the fixed pitch pattern of a syllable), 语气 is about attitude (angry, polite, commanding).

noun

tone of voicemanner of speaking(grammatical) mood

Measure word · 个

Examples

语气。
Tā de yǔ qì tīng qǐ lái hěn shēng qì.
His tone sounds very angry.
语气。
Nǐ shuō huà de yǔ qì kě yǐ wēn róu yì diǎn.
You can soften your tone a bit when speaking.
语气。
Wǒ bù xǐ huan tā nà zhǒng mìng lìng de yǔ qì.
I don't like his commanding tone.

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.

语yǔspeech

语 (speech) names the source of 气 (tone), giving tone of voice.

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 語; 语 is its simplified writing.

言吾語

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

吾

吾wú語yǔ

Same sound today

The form 語 pairs 言 (speech) with 吾, which gives the sound; this note is about 語, not 语.

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 氣; 气 is its simplified writing.

气米氣

Meaning part形符xíngfú

米米mǐrice

Sound part声符shēngfú

气

气qì氣qì

Same sound today

The traditional form 氣 pairs 米 (rice) with 气, which supplies the sound; the simplified 气 is a later abbreviation.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 5 HSK 2.0 Level 5 Communication & Speech Language

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