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黑幕 (hēi mù) — inside story of a plot or shady deal; scandalous story

Definition

Literally 'black curtain' — refers to the hidden, corrupt dealings behind an event (elections, business deals). Almost always appears with 揭开 'uncover' or 爆出 'be exposed'.

noun
inside story of a plot or shady dealscandalous story

Examples

  • 黑幕。
    Zhè cì xuǎn jǔ bèi bào chū yǒu hēi mù.
    This election was revealed to have an inside story of a plot.
  • ，黑幕。
    Jì zhě shēn rù diào chá, zhōng yú jiē kāi le hēi mù.
    The journalist investigated deeply and finally uncovered the scandal.
  • 黑幕。
    Nà jiā gōng sī de hēi mù ràng tóu zī zhě sǔn shī cǎn zhòng.
    The inside story of that company caused heavy losses for investors.

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.

黑hēiblack
幕mùcurtain

A 黑 幕 hides what happens behind it.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 黑 seems to come from drawing a head marked with dots, usually read as facial tattoos.

Open 黑 →

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
巾巾jīncloth
Sound part声符shēngfú
莫
莫mò幕mù
Same sound today

幕 combines 莫 above 巾 (cloth); 莫 gives the sound.

Open 幕 →
Appears in
Crime & Police

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