曲 qū bend
crooked; bent; wrong; tune; song
How it came to be
A woven thing with the canes curving round, a basket or a mould, drawn so that every line in it turns. Nothing in the shape is straight, and that is the whole word.
用法
- True polyphone: read qū for "bent, crooked, wrong" (弯曲 wānqū "to bend", 曲折 qūzhé "winding, full of twists"), but read qǔ for "song, musical piece" (歌曲 gēqǔ "song", 乐曲 yuèqǔ "musical composition", 戏曲 xìqǔ "Chinese opera").
- The two readings map to two different meanings, so always check which compound you're in before pronouncing it.
- 插曲 chāqǔ (qǔ) literally "inserted tune" is used figuratively for a minor unexpected episode in a story or life - 这只是个小插曲 zhè zhǐshì ge xiǎo chāqǔ, "this is just a small hiccup".