刀鞘 (dāo qiào) — sheath; scabbard | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

sheathscabbard

Measure word · 把

Examples

刀鞘。
Tā bǎ dāo qiào cóng yāo jiān jiě xià lái.
He took the sheath off his belt.
刀鞘。
Zhè bǎ dāo de dāo qiào shì pí zhì de.
The scabbard of this knife is made of leather.
，刀鞘。
Wǔ shì bá chū dāo, dāo qiào liú zài yāo dài shàng.
The warrior drew his sword, leaving the sheath on his belt.

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.

刀 shows the blade, and 鞘 shows the sheath, giving a sheath for a blade.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 刀 comes from a simple picture of a knife.

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

革肖鞘

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

肖

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

鞘 pairs 革 as the meaning part with 肖 as the sound part.

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.