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音阶 (yīn jiē) — musical scale

Definition

noun
musical scale

Examples

  • 音阶。
    Tā zhèng zài liàn xí yīn jiē.
    He is practicing scales.
  • 音阶。
    Zhè shǒu qǔ zi yòng le hěn duō bù tóng de yīn jiē.
    This piece uses many different scales.
  • 音阶。
    Lǎo shī jiào wǒ men chàng yīn jiē.
    The teacher taught us to sing scales.

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.

音yīnsound
阶jiēstep

“音” is sound, and “阶” is a step or ladder; together they picture steps of sound in a scale.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

音 adds a short stroke that seals the mouth-like part, showing a covered or muffled sound rather than speech.

Open 音 →

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 階; 阶 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阝Written in full as阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
皆
皆jiē階jiē
Same sound today

The traditional form 階 uses 阝 (written in full as 阜) to relate to its meaning and 皆 to show its sound; the simplified 阶 is a later shorthand, so its right side is not the old sound part.

Open 阶 →
Appears in
Music

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