词

䛐/詞

cí

司 + 讠

HSK 3.0Level 2

Definitions

cí (noun) word; phrase; term

cí (noun) lyrics; poetry

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 司 represents the sound. Simplified form of 詞.

Semantic: 讠 Phonetic: 司

About

词 is a phonosemantic compound and the simplified form of 詞. The left component 讠 (simplified from 言) means 'speech', while the right component 司 (sī) indicates the pronunciation. Originally referring to spoken words or phrases, its meaning later broadened to formal literary compositions, then to a genre of classical lyric poetry with irregular line lengths, and now primarily means 'word' or 'term'.

Etymology Hide

Bronze Early Warring States (~400 BC)

Seal Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

这个词我认识。

Zhège cí wǒ rènshi.

I know this word.

词语学习很重要。

Cíyǔ xuéxí hěn zhòngyào.

Learning words is very important.

这首歌的歌词很美。

Zhè shǒu gē de gēcí hěn měi.

The lyrics of this song are very beautiful.

他的词汇量很大。

Tā de cíhuìliàng hěn dà.

His vocabulary is very large.

老师解释了新词的意思。

Lǎoshī jiěshìle xīn cí de yìsi.

The teacher explained the meaning of the new word.

动词和名词是词类。

Dòngcí hé míngcí shì cílèi.

Verbs and nouns are parts of speech.

写作文时要用准确的词语。

Xiě zuòwén shí yào yòng zhǔnquè de cíyǔ.

When writing an essay, one must use precise words.

为了更好地理解课文，我们分析了关键词语的用法。

Wèile gèng hǎo de lǐjiě kèwén, wǒmen fēnxīle guānjiàn cíyǔ de yòngfǎ.

In order to better understand the text, we analyzed the usage of key words.

Related Characters

Component: 司

Component: 讠

词