端午

Duānwǔ
proper noun

Meanings

  1. 1 Dragon Boat Festival (5th day of the 5th lunar month)
  2. 2 short for 端午节

Examples

HSK 7-9
Duānwǔ kuài dào le, māma kāishǐ bāo zòngzi.
Dragon Boat Festival is almost here, Mom has started wrapping zongzi.
HSK 7-9
Duānwǔ yǒu sài lóngzhōu de chuántǒng.
There's a tradition of dragon-boat racing at Dragon Boat Festival.

Tips

history
Commemorates the poet 屈原 (~340-278 BCE), who drowned himself in the Miluo River. Locals threw rice into the water to keep fish away from his body - the origin of 粽子 (sticky rice dumplings) and dragon boat racing.
memory
('beginning') + ('5th, noon, horse'): the start of the fifth lunar month. also means 'horse' in the zodiac and the fifth earthly branch - both connect to '5'.

In Pop Culture

屈原 Qūyuán
Qu Yuan
Warring States poet whose death the festival commemorates; author of 《离骚》(Lísāo / Encountering Sorrow).

Stroke Order

duān