降调 (jiàng diào) — (linguistics/music) falling tone, falling inton…

Definition

A noun meaning a falling pitch in speech or music (e.g. Chinese 4th tone) or a demotion in rank or position.

noun

(linguistics/music) falling tonefalling intonation(of rank or position) demotionreduction in rank

降调。
Hàn yǔ de dì sì shēng shì yí gè jiàng diào.
The fourth tone in Chinese is a falling tone.
降调。
Gōng sī xuān bù le tā de jiàng diào.
The company announced his demotion.
降调，。
Zuò qǔ jiā zài jié wěi chù shǐ yòng le jiàng diào, ràng yuè qǔ gèng shāng gǎn.
The composer used a falling pitch at the end, making the piece sadder.

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.

降 describes a falling direction applied to 调, producing a lower tone.

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.

阝夅降

Meaning part形符xíngfú

阝Written in full as阜fùhill, wall

Sound part声符shēngfú

夅

夅jiàng降xiáng

Same sound today

降 pairs 阝 (a hill or wall, written in full as 阜) with 夅, a sound part meaning 'to descend'; together they picture descending a hill.

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 調; 调 is its simplified writing.

言周調

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

周

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

The traditional form 調 pairs 言 (speech) with 周, which shows how it was pronounced. The simplified 调 is a later shorthand.