土星 Tǔ xīng
bababardwan
February 23, 2009 at 10:30 AM posted in General Discussion
Tǔ xīng
T :
S : 土星
Example Sentences
T土星周圍沿赤道面有三個光環。
S土星周围沿赤道面有三个光环。
Tǔ xīng zhōu wéi yán / yàn chì dào miàn yǒu sān gè guāng huán
Saturn is encircled by a system of three rings lying in the plane of its equator.
Lessons Related to 土星 Tǔ xīng:
bababardwan
February 23, 2009 at 12:01 PM
Changye,
That's superb.That will be easy to remember now.I love these traditional reasons.Well explained.多谢
...but I better erase this old song from my memory banks as it contradicts the above and could confuse.
changye
February 23, 2009 at 11:51 AM
Hi bababardawan
In ancient times, only five planets were known, and Chinese people named them based on 五行思想 (Five Elements Theory), namely 木，火，土，金，and 水.
水星 (Mercury) move fast like water (水)
金星 (Venus) as bright as gold (金)
火星 (Mars) reddish like fire (火)
木星 (Jupiter)
土星 (Saturn) dark yellowish like soil/earth (土)
And only "木" was left for Jupiter, which is the reason the largest planet was named "木星" in China.
RJ
February 23, 2009 at 11:07 AM
I am only guessing here bardwan but maybe it comes from its brightness or beauty in the sky? Bright like a star but in reality just a planet (dirt, earth) not a distant sun.
bababardwan
February 23, 2009 at 10:35 AM
I was pretty surprised by this word as the breakdown is:
tu1...earth
xing1...star/planet
..ie I was surprised by the earth part especially as it is a gas giant.Does anyone have an explanation for this? Perhaps related to the earth/dust in the rings??
sebire
February 23, 2009 at 05:25 PMOh dear, and I had guessed it was "gemstone" - was disappointed! Gemstone makes good sense though, 宝石.