首饰盒 (shǒu shì hé) — jewelry box, jewel case

Definition

noun

jewelry boxjewel case

Measure word · 个

首饰盒。
Tā bǎ suǒ yǒu de shǒu liàn dōu fàng zài nà ge xiǎo shǒu shì hé lǐ.
She put all her bracelets in that small jewelry box.
首饰盒。
Zhè ge shǒu shì hé shì tā nǎi nai liú xià lái de.
This jewelry box was left by her grandmother.
首饰盒。
Wǒ zhǔn bèi bǎ shǒu shì hé sòng gěi mā ma dāng shēng rì lǐ wù.
I plan to give the jewelry box to my mom as a birthday gift.

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.

首饰jewelry

偏正Modifier + head

首饰 denotes jewelry and 盒 denotes a box, giving a box for jewelry.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape comes from an old drawing of an animal's head, showing a long mouth and horns; the version with hair became 首.

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 飾; 饰 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

巾巾jīncloth

Sound part声符shēngfú

飤

飤sì飾shì

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 飾 pairs 巾 (cloth) with 飤 as a sound part; the simplified 饰 is a later abbreviation.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.