雀斑 (què bān) — freckles | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

freckles

Examples

雀斑。
Tā de liǎn shàng yǒu yì xiē què bān.
She has some freckles on her face.
雀斑。
Zhè ge nǚ hái de què bān kàn qǐ lái tè bié kě ài.
This girl's freckles look especially cute.
，雀斑。
Xià tiān shài duō le tài yáng, què bān jiù huì biàn shēn.
If you get too much sun in summer, freckles will get darker.

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.

雀quèsparrow

雀 gives the image of a sparrow, 斑 means spots, so together they name small freckles.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

小隹雀

小小xiǎosmall
隹隹zhuībird

雀 combines 小 (small) and 隹 (bird), showing a small bird, a sparrow.

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

文文wénpattern

Sound part声符shēngfú

班

班bān斑bān

Same sound today

斑 uses 文 to show a pattern and 班 to give its sound.

Appears in

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