身着 (shēn zhāo) — (formal) to wear, to be dressed in

Definition

Formal, written way to say 'to wear / be dressed in' — used in news, literature, and descriptions rather than everyday speech. Pair with clothing directly: 他身着西装.

verb
(formal) to wearto be dressed in

Examples

  • 身着
    Tā shēn zhāo yí jiàn hēi sè xī zhuāng, xiǎn de hěn jīng shén.
    He was wearing a black suit and looked very sharp.
  • 身着
    Zhè wèi nǚ shì shēn zhāo yì tiáo bái sè cháng qún, zǒu jìn dà tīng.
    This lady, in a white long dress, walked into the hall.
  • 身着
    Xiǎo shuō kāi tóu, zhǔ rén gōng shēn zhāo yì shēn jiù jūn zhuāng.
    At the beginning of the novel, the protagonist is dressed in an old military uniform.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

身着 means the 身 wears clothes, i.e. to wear or be dressed in.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 身 comes from a drawing of a pregnant woman.

Open 身 →

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 著; 着 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
cǎograss; plant
Sound part声符shēngfú
zhězháo
Same sound today

The traditional form 著 puts 艸 (grass; plant) above 者, which gives the sound; the simplified 着 is a later shorthand.

Open 着 →
Appears in

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