问候语 (wèn hòu yǔ) — greeting (a word or phrase used to greet someon…

Definition

noun

greeting (a word or phrase used to greet someone)

Examples

问候语“”“”。
Cháng jiàn de wèn hòu yǔ yǒu "nǐ hǎo" hé "zǎo shàng hǎo".
Common greetings include 'hello' and 'good morning'.
问候语。
Bù tóng wén huà lǐ de wèn hòu yǔ chā bié hěn dà.
Greetings differ a lot across cultures.
问候语。
Tā bú tài huì yòng zhèng shì de wèn hòu yǔ.
He doesn't really know how to use formal greetings.

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.

问候

问wènask候hòugreet

联合Side by side

语yǔword

问 and 候 form greeting, and 语 adds word, giving a greeting word.

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 問; 问 is its simplified writing.

門口問

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒu

Sound part声符shēngfú

門

門mén問wèn

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

The traditional form 問 combines 口 (mouth) with 門, which gives the sound; the simplified 问 is a later shorthand and its parts are not the historical components.

Open 问 →

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

亻Written in full as人rén

Sound part声符shēngfú

矦

矦hóu候hòu

Same sound today

候 combines 亻, relating to people, with 矦, which gives the sound.

Open 候 →

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 語; 语 is its simplified writing.