过夜 (guò yè) — to stay overnight | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

过 (guò) means 'pass/spend' and 夜 (yè) means 'night' — together a verb-object phrase for staying somewhere overnight. It is about the overnight stay itself, not the duration.

verb

to stay overnight

Examples

过夜。
Wǒ men jīn wǎn dǎ suàn zài péng you jiā guò yè.
We plan to stay overnight at our friend's place tonight.
。
Tā zài zhè jiā jiǔ diàn guò le yí yè.
He stayed one night at this hotel.
过夜。
Zhè cì lǚ xíng wǒ men zhī guò yè yí cì.
We only stayed overnight once during this trip.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

过 means to pass and 夜 means night, so the action is passing a night.

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 過; 过 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

辵辵chuòwalk

Sound part声符shēngfú

咼

咼wāi過guò

Same sound today

The traditional form 過 pairs 辵 (walk) with 咼 as a sound component; the simplified 过 is a shorthand, and its parts are not the historical components.

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

夕夕xīmoon

Sound part声符shēngfú

亦

亦yì夜yè

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

The form 夜 pairs 亦 as a sound part with 夕 as a moon part, for night. In the modern shape, the 亦 part is broken up and one stroke merges into 夕.

Appears in

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