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颤音 (chàn yīn) — (music) trill, vibrato; (phonetics) trilled consonant; quavering or trembling voice (from emotion)

Definition

A '颤音' is a rapid vibration or trembling — used for the musical trill/vibrato, the trilled consonant in phonetics (like Spanish 'r'), and a quaver in the voice from emotion.

noun
(music) trillvibrato(phonetics) trilled consonantquavering or trembling voice (from emotion)

Examples

  • 颤音。
    Zhè shǒu gē de chàn yīn bù fen hěn nán chàng.
    The trill part of this song is very hard to sing.
  • 颤音，。
    Tā shuō huà shí shēng yīn dài zhe chàn yīn, hǎo xiàng hěn jī dòng.
    His voice had a quaver when he spoke, as if he was very excited.
  • r颤音。
    Xī bān yá yǔ zhōng de r shì chàn yīn yīn.
    The 'r' in Spanish is a trilled sound.

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.

颤chàntrembling
音yīnsound

The 音 sound is described as 颤 trembling or quavering, giving a trill or shaking voice.

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 顫; 颤 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yèhead
Sound part声符shēngfú
亶
亶dǎn顫chàn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 顫, 頁 shows the head and 亶 supplies the sound; the simplified 颤 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the original components.

Open 颤 →

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 →
Appears in
LanguageMusic

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