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雄蜂 (xióng fēng) — drone; male bee

Definition

A male bee (a drone) — the only males in the colony, whose sole role is to mate with the queen. Contrast with 工蜂 (worker bee) and 蜂王 (queen bee), the other two castes in a bee society.

noun
dronemale bee
Measure word · 只

Examples

  • ，雄蜂。
    Mì fēng shè huì lǐ, xióng fēng de zhǔ yào rèn wu shì hé fēng wáng jiāo pèi.
    In bee society, the drone's main task is to mate with the queen.
  • 雄蜂，。
    Gōng fēng huì zhào gù xióng fēng, dàn dōng tiān lái lín shí tā men huì bèi gǎn chū fēng cháo.
    Worker bees care for the drones, but they are driven out of the hive when winter comes.
  • 雄蜂，。
    Zhè zhī xióng fēng bǐ gōng fēng dà de duō, chì bǎng yě gèng kuān.
    This drone is much larger than a worker bee, and its wings are wider.

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.

雄xióngmale
蜂fēngbee

雄 means male and 蜂 means bee; together they name a male bee.

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
隹隹zhuī
Sound part声符shēngfú
厷
厷gōng雄xióng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

雄 is formed by putting 隹 together with 厷, with 厷 giving the character's sound.

Open 雄 →

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
虫虫chónginsect
Sound part声符shēngfú
夆
夆páng蜂fēng
Same sound today

蜂 puts 虫, showing an insect, beside 夆, which gives its sound.

Open 蜂 →
Appears in
Insects

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