对联
duì lián · HSK 7
rhyming couplet
🚪📜 对 pair + 联 link = paired lines linked on each side of a door
During Chinese New Year, matching poetic lines are brushed onto red paper strips and pasted on either side of the front door. 对 stresses the pairing; 联 stresses the connection between the two halves.
对 — 又 (hand) + 寸 (measure/rule)
Originally depicted a hand (又) holding or responding to something, with 寸 added as a phonetic-semantic element suggesting measured action. The traditional form 對 showed a hand presenting an object in reply, giving the core sense of 'to answer' or 'face toward.' Modern meanings like 'correct' and 'pair' grew from this idea of matching response.