金叶 (jīn xié) — gold foil | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

gold foil

Measure word · 片

金叶。
Zhè fú fó xiàng yòng le hěn duō jīn xié zhuāng shì.
This Buddha statue is decorated with a lot of gold foil.
。
Gǔ dài de gōng jiàng huì zài mù qì shàng tiē jīn xié.
Ancient craftsmen would apply gold foil to wooden objects.
金叶，。
Zhè zhǒng jīn xié fēi cháng báo, yí pèng jiù pò le.
This kind of gold foil is extremely thin; it breaks as soon as you touch it.

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.

金 and 叶 give the image of a thin gold sheet.

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.

金 was drawn with marks for two pieces of metal, along with a part that gave its sound; it first meant copper, then metals and gold.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

口十叶

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

十

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

The form 叶 pairs 口 (mouth) with 十 (ten) as an old form meaning cooperate; it later came to mean leaf because it sounded similar.