鲸鱼 (jīng yú) — whale | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

whale

Measure word · 条

Examples

鲸鱼。
Wǒ zài hǎi lǐ kàn dào le yì zhī jīng yú.
I saw a whale in the sea.
鲸鱼。
jīng yú Shì shì jiè shàng zuì dà de dòng wù.
Whales are the largest animals in the world.
鲸鱼。
Zhè tiáo jīng yú yǒu shí mǐ cháng.
This whale is ten meters long.

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.

鲸 (whale) and 鱼 (fish) combine to name a whale as a kind of sea creature.

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 鯨; 鲸 is its simplified writing.

魚京鯨

Meaning part形符xíngfú

魚魚yúfish

Sound part声符shēngfú

京

京jīng鯨jīng

Same sound today

The traditional form 鯨 pairs 魚 (fish) with 京 for the sound; the simplified 鲸 keeps that same 京 sound part.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 魚; 鱼 is its simplified writing.

For 鱼, the traditional form 魚 is a picture of a fish.

Appears in

Animals & Mammals

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