stress a syllable
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 4 examplesverb
to stress; to emphasize a syllable in pronunciation
technicalA linguistic/phonetic term. Changing the stressed syllable (or tone) can sometimes change the meaning of a word or phrase, as shown in the examples.
Zài在
“
shí石
tou头
”
zhè这
ge个
cí词
lǐ里
，
dì第
yī一
ge个
yīn音
jié节
xū需
yào要
zhòng重
dú读
。
In the word 'stone', the first syllable needs to be stressed.
“
guò过
nián年
”
zhè这
ge个
cí词
，
zhòng重
dú读
“
guò过
”
biǎo表
shì示
“
míng明
nián年
”
，
zhòng重
dú读
“
nián年
”
biǎo表
shì示
“
guò过
xīn新
nián年
”
。
For the phrase 'guonian', stressing 'guo' means 'next year', while stressing 'nian' means 'to celebrate the New Year'.
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Yīng英
yǔ语
hé和
hàn汉
yǔ语
dōu都
yǒu有
zhòng重
dú读
guī规
zé则
。
Both English and Chinese have stress rules.
Lǎo老
shī师
jiāo教
wǒ我
men们
rú如
hé何
zhèng正
què确
zhòng重
dú读
duō多
yīn音
jié节
cí词
。
The teacher taught us how to correctly stress polysyllabic words.