马群 (mǎ qún) — herd of horses

Definition

noun
herd of horses
Measure word · 群

Examples

  • 马群。
    Cǎo yuán shàng yǒu yì qún mǎ qún.
    There is a herd of horses on the grassland.
  • 马群。
    mǎ qún Zài hé biān hē shuǐ.
    The herd of horses is drinking water by the river.
  • 马群。
    Tā pāi le yì zhāng mǎ qún de zhào piàn.
    He took a photo of a herd of horses.

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.

马mǎhorse
群qúnherd

“马” refers to horses and “群” refers to a group, giving a group of horses.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 馬; 马 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 馬 shows a horse with its head facing left, a flowing mane, and two legs standing vertically.

Open 马 →

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
羊羊yáng
Sound part声符shēngfú
君
君jūn群
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

群 pairs 羊, a sheep, to point to a herd or group, with 君 giving the sound.

Open 群 →

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