Definition
谐音 covers two main concepts: in linguistics, it refers to words or characters that share the same pronunciation but differ in meaning (homophones), a common source of puns and wordplay in Chinese; in music, it refers to harmonic overtones or partials that give a sound its timbre. The term can also be used more loosely for euphony or pleasing sound combinations.
noun
homophonywords that sound the same but have different meaningsharmonicsovertones in music
Examples
- 谐音，“”“”。Zhōngwén li yǒu hěn duō xié yīn zì, bǐrú “shì” hé “shì”.In Chinese there are many homophonic characters, like 'shì' (是) and 'shì' (事).
- 谐音。Xiǎotíqín de yīnsè bāohán fēngfù de xié yīn.The timbre of a violin contains rich harmonics.
- 谐音。Zhè shǒu shī de xié yīn hěn měi.The euphony of this poem is very beautiful.
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