Abstract: In the process of disyllabification of Chinese vocabulary,how word meanings are inherited and developed is an important issue.In this paper,7390 modifier-head disyllabic compound words from ancient Chinese are selected for research,and the motivation for word formation is traced,and the mechanism of word meaning inheritance and development is explored.According to the function of modifier morphemes in word formation,modifier-head disyllabic compound words can be divided into four types:semantic externalization,semantic differentiation,semantic generalization and semantic description.These four types carry a deep understanding of Chinese word meanings and their intrinsic semantic structure by native Chinese speakers,and have their own roles in inheriting meanings,differentiating meanings,distinguishing words,summarizing hyponym,describing semantics,etc.These four types realize the purpose of semantic clarity by economic differentiation means,solve the difficulty of “monosyllable is not enough to express” in the stage of monophonic word formation,and promote the successful transformation of Chinese vocabulary system from the monophonic pattern to the disyllabic pattern.

Key words: modifier-head disyllabic compound words, disyllabification, semantic types, historical roles, the function of morphemes