农作物 (nóng zuò wù) — crops | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

crops

Measure word · 种

Examples

农作物。
Jīn nián nóng zuò wù cháng dé hěn hǎo.
The crops are growing well this year.
农作物。
Zhè xiē nóng zuò wù xū yào gèng duō de shuǐ.
These crops need more water.
农作物。
Nóng mín zhèng zài dì lǐ shōu gē nóng zuò wù.
The farmers are harvesting crops in the fields.

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.

农nóngagriculture

作物crop

作zuògrow物wùthing

动宾Verb + object

农作物 means 农 (agriculture) and 作物 (grown plants) together as crops.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 農; 农 is its simplified writing.

林林línvegetation
辰辰chénhoe

The traditional form 農 comes from 林 (vegetation) and 辰 (a hoe), showing a hoe among vegetation to remove weeds; the simplified 农 is a later abbreviation.

Open 农 →

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

亻乍作

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

乍

乍zhà作zuò

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

The left side 亻 comes from 人, meaning 'person', and the right side 乍 gives the sound.

Open 作 →

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