那天 (nà tiān) — that day; the other day (referring to a recent… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

pronoun

that daythe other day (referring to a recent past day)

Examples

那天。
nà tiān Shì wǒ yì shēng zhōng zuì kāi xīn de yì tiān.
That day was the happiest day of my life.
那天。
nà tiān Wǒ zài shāng chǎng yù jiàn le tā.
I met him the other day at the mall.
那天。
nà tiān Zhěng zhěng xià le yì tiān de yǔ.
That day, it rained all day.

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.

那 gives that and 天 gives day, pointing to a particular day.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

邑邑yìcity

Sound part声符shēngfú

冄

冉rǎn那nà

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

The right part 邑 shows a city, and the left part 冄 (written 冉) gives the sound. The character first named a state and was later used to mean 'that'.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

丁

丁dīng天tiān

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

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

Appears in

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