停车处 (tíng chē chù) — parking lot; parking place

Definition

noun
parking lotparking place
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 停车处，。
    Zhè ge tíng chē chù hěn xiǎo, zhǐ néng tíng jǐ liàng chē.
    This parking lot is very small; it can only hold a few cars.
  • 停车处？
    Qǐng wèn fù jìn yǒu tíng chē chù ma?
    Excuse me, is there a parking lot nearby?
  • 停车处，。
    tíng chē chù Yǐ jīng mǎn le, wǒ men dé zhǎo bié de dì fāng.
    The parking lot is full; we need to find another place.

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.

停车park
停tíngstop车chēvehicle
动宾Verb + object
处chùplace

Stopping a vehicle in 停车 marks the use of the place in 处, giving a parking lot.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
亭
亭tíng停tíng
Same sound today

The left side 亻 is a person, and the right side 亭 gives the sound tíng; this forms 停.

Open 停 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 車; 车 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 車 was drawn as a carriage seen from above, with wheels on both sides and a shaft at the front; the simplified 车 is a later shorthand.

Open 车 →

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 處; 处 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
夂夂zhǐ
几几jǐtable
Sound part声符shēngfú
虍
虍hū處chǔ
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 處 pairs 虍, giving the sound, with 夂 and 几, a table, as meaning parts. The simplified 处 is a shorthand and its parts are not the historical components.

Open 处 →

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