Definition
五音 refers to two traditional Chinese classification systems. In music, it is the pentatonic scale (宫、商、角、徵、羽, roughly do, re, mi, sol, la). In traditional phonetics, it classifies initial consonants by place of articulation: throat, tooth, tongue, teeth, and lips. The term is culturally significant and appears in idioms and classical texts.
n.
the five notes of the traditional Chinese pentatonic scale (gōng, shāng, jué, zhǐ, yǔ)the five categories of initial consonants in traditional Chinese phonetics (throat, tooth, tongue, teeth, lip)
Examples
- 五音。Zhōngguó gǔdài yīnyuè yǐ wǔ yīn wéi jīchǔ.Ancient Chinese music is based on the five notes.
- 五音。Chuántǒng yīnyùnxué jiāng shēngmǔ fēn wéi wǔ yīn.Traditional phonology classifies initials into five categories.
- 五音。Xuéxí gǔqín yào xiān liǎojiě wǔ yīn.To learn the guqin, you first need to understand the five notes.
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