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黄昏 (huáng hūn) — dusk; nightfall

Definition

黄昏 refers specifically to the twilight hour around sunset — narrower and more poetic than 傍晚. More literary than 晚上 ('evening'), which covers the whole post-sunset period.

noun
dusknightfall

Examples

  • 黄昏，。
    huáng hūn Shí fēn, tiān kōng biàn chéng jú hóng sè.
    At dusk, the sky turns orange-red.
  • 黄昏。
    Tā men xǐ huan zài huáng hūn shí qù hé biān diào yú.
    They like to go fishing by the river at dusk.
  • 黄昏，。
    huáng hūn Zhī hòu, chéng shì de dēng guāng zhú jiàn liàng qǐ.
    After dusk, the city's lights gradually come on.

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.

黄huángyellow
昏hūndim

The 黄 (yellow) glow over the 昏 (dim) evening gives the idea of dusk.

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 黃; 黄 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
田田tiánfield
Sound part声符shēngfú
炗
炗guāng黃huáng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 黃 pairs 田 (field) with 炗 (light), which gives the sound; the simplified 黄 is a shorthand and its parts are not historical components.

Open 黄 →

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

昏 combines 日 (sun) with 氏, a part showing lowering or going down. The picture is the sun going down at dusk.

Open 昏 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Time of Day

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