二档 (èr dàng) — second gear (in a vehicle or machine); second grade / tier (in a classification system)

Definition

Literally 'second gear' (二 + 档), used both for vehicle gears and for a second tier or grade in a ranking. The 档 classifier marks slots in an ordered scale (one slot, second slot, etc.).

adjective
second gear (in a vehicle or machine)second grade / tier (in a classification system)

Examples

  • ，二档。
    Kāi chē shí, cóng yí dàng huàn dào èr dàng yào cǎi lí hé qì.
    When driving, you need to press the clutch to shift from first gear to second.
  • 二档，。
    Zhè ge yóu xì de zuì xīn bǎn běn shǔ yú èr dàng zhàn duì, bú shì dǐng jí.
    The newest version of this game belongs to the second-tier team, not the top one.
  • ，二档。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī de gōng zī fēn wéi sān dàng, tā mù qián ná de shì èr dàng.
    This company's salary is divided into three levels; he currently draws the second level.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

二èrsecond
档dànggear/tier

二 marks second and 档 names a gear or tier, giving “second gear”.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

二 is drawn as two parallel strokes, where the number of strokes shows the amount.

Open 二 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 檔; 档 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
木木mùtree
Sound part声符shēngfú
當
當dāng檔dàng
Same sound today

The traditional form 檔 pairs 木, a tree, with 當 as the sound part. The simplified 档 is an abbreviation of 檔.

Open 档 →

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