北郊 (běi jiāo) — northern suburbs | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

northern suburbs

Examples

北郊。
Wǒ zhù zài běi jiāo.
I live in the northern suburbs.
北郊。
běi jiāo Lí shì zhōng xīn hěn yuǎn.
The northern suburbs are far from the city center.
北郊，。
běi jiāo De huán jìng hěn hǎo, kōng qì xīn xiān.
The environment in the northern suburbs is very good, the air is fresh.

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.

郊jiāosuburbs

北 and 郊 combine to mean the suburbs on the northern side.

Characters in this word

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

The form 北 shows two people standing back to back. It originally meant 'back'.

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

交阝郊

Meaning part形符xíngfú

阝Written in full as邑yì

Sound part声符shēngfú

交

交jiāo郊jiāo

Same sound today

郊 pairs the meaning part 邑 (written as 阝) with 交, the sound part.

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