东芝 (Dōng zhī) — Toshiba (Japanese electronics company)

Definition

noun

Toshiba (Japanese electronics company)

东芝。
Dōng zhī Shì rì běn yì jiā hěn yǒu míng de gōng sī.
Toshiba is a very famous company in Japan.
东芝。
Wǒ mǎi le yì tái Dōng zhī de bǐ jì běn diàn nǎo.
I bought a Toshiba laptop.
东芝。
Dōng zhī De chǎn pǐn zhì liàng yì zhí hěn hǎo.
Toshiba's product quality has always been good.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 東; 东 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 東 originally drew a full bag tied at both ends. The simplified 东 is a later shorthand, not the historical shape.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

艹之芝

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎograss

Sound part声符shēngfú

之

之zhī芝⁰zhī

Same sound today

芝 is built from 艹, a grass form, plus 之 as a sound part; it names a type of plant.