传呼 (chuán hū) — to page (someone); to notify of a phone call

Definition

传呼 (chuánhū) means to page or call someone to the phone, common in the era of beepers/传呼机 when one had to relay a message for someone to call back.

verb

to page (someone)to notify of a phone call

Examples

传呼。
Qǐng chuán hū wǒ yí xià.
Please page me.
传呼，。
Tā chuán hū le wǒ hǎo jǐ cì, wǒ dōu méi tīng dào.
He paged me several times, but I didn't hear it.
，传呼。
Nà shí hou, rén men jīng cháng chuán hū bié rén huí diàn huà.
Back then, people often paged others to call back.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

传chuánpass on

呼hūcall out

传 and 呼 both convey passing on and calling out, together meaning to page someone.

Characters in this word

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 傳; 传 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

人人rénman

Sound part声符shēngfú

專

專zhuān傳chuán

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 傳 puts 人 (man) beside 專, which gives the sound; the simplified 传 is a later shorthand, and its parts are not the historical ones.

Open 传 →

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

口乎呼

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

乎

乎hū呼hū

Same sound today

呼 uses 口 (mouth) to show exhaling, calling, or shouting, and 乎 gives the sound.

Open 呼 →

Appears in