子 – vocab dash

子zǐ

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Meanings

1. son

2. child

3. seed

4. egg

5. small thing

6. 1st earthly branch: 11 p.m.–1 a.m., midnight, 11th solar month (7th December to 5th January), year of the rat

7. viscount, fourth of five orders of nobility 五等爵位 (wǔděngjuéwèi)

8. ancient Chinese compass point: 0° (north)

9. subsidiary; subordinate; (prefix) sub-

Characters used

子son

Examples6

他们tāmen认为rènwéi他tā是shì太阳tàiyang之zhī子zǐ。

They thought he was the son of the Sun.

父fù父fù子zǐ子zǐ。

Let the fathers be fathers and the sons sons.

树shù欲yù静jìng而ér风fēng不bù息xī，子zǐ欲yù养yǎng而ér亲qīn不bù在zài！

As the trees crave tranquility in the ever-persistent wind, the child craves the care of its ever-absent parents.

在zài中文Zhōngwén里面lǐmiàn，饺子jiǎozi和hé“交jiāo子zǐ”谐音xiéyīn，因而yīn'ér具有jùyǒu丰富fēngfù的de文化wénhuà涵义hányì。

In Chinese, 'dumpling' and 'first exchange' are homophones, so they have a rich cultural association.

执zhí子zǐ之zhī手shǒu，与yǔ子zǐ偕老xiélǎo。

Today I take your hand so that we may grow old together.

到dào了le每年měinián的de年底niándǐ即jí年三十niánsānshí的de时候shíhou，就jiù不仅bùjǐn是shì新xīn旧jiù两liǎng天tiān的de更替gēngtì，也yě是shì新xīn旧jiù岁suì的de更替gēngtì，称之为chēngzhīwéi“交jiāo子zǐ”。

Arriving at the end of each lunar year wasn't just a new day taking over from the previous one, but also a new year taking over from the previous one, and this was called 'first exchange'.