偷拍 (tōu pāi) — to secretly photograph (someone) without their…

Definition

verb

to secretly photograph (someone) without their consent

偷拍。
Tā xǐ huan zài jiē shàng tōu pāi lù rén.
He likes to secretly photograph passersby on the street.
偷拍。
Zài gōng gòng chǎng hé tōu pāi bié rén shì bù lǐ mào de.
Secretly photographing others in public is impolite.
偷拍。
Tā fā xiàn bèi tōu pāi hòu fēi cháng shēng qì.
She was very angry after discovering she had been secretly photographed.

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.

偷tōusecretly

拍pāiphotograph

偷 describes doing something secretly, and 拍 means to photograph; together they mean to photograph without consent.

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.

亻俞偷

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rén

Sound part声符shēngfú

俞

俞yú偷tōu

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left part 亻, a standing person, points to the idea of someone doing the act, while the right part 俞 gives the character its sound.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

白

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

拍 puts 手 (hand) beside 白, which gives the pronunciation.

Appears in