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颜料 (yán liào) — pigment; coloring material used in painting

Definition

noun
pigmentcoloring material used in painting
Measure word · 种

Examples

  • 颜料。
    Zhè zhǒng yán liào de sè cǎi fēi cháng xiān yàn.
    This kind of pigment has very bright colors.
  • 颜料。
    Tā mǎi le yì hé xīn de shuǐ cǎi yán liào.
    He bought a new box of watercolor pigments.
  • 颜料。
    Yòng kuàng wù yán liào huà de huà kě yǐ bǎo cún hěn jiǔ.
    Paintings made with mineral pigments can last a long time.

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.

颜yáncolor
料liàomaterial

颜 points to color and 料 to material, together naming a coloring material used in painting.

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 顏; 颜 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yèhead
Sound part声符shēngfú
彥
彥yàn顏⁰yán
Same sound today

The traditional form 顏, not the simplified 颜, pairs 彥 as a sound part with 頁, a head, for face or countenance.

Open 颜 →

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

料 combines 米 (rice) with 斗 (a dipper), showing rice being measured or gauged.

Open 料 →
Appears in
Art & Fine ArtsMaterials & Substances

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