半山腰 (bàn shān yāo) — halfway up a mountain; mountainside

Definition

noun
halfway up a mountainmountainside

Examples

  • 半山腰。
    Wǒ men pá dào bàn shān yāo jiù tíng xià lái xiū xi le.
    We stopped to rest when we reached halfway up the mountain.
  • 半山腰，。
    bàn shān yāo Yǒu yí zuò xiǎo miào, fēng jǐng hěn hǎo.
    There is a small temple halfway up the mountain with a great view.
  • 半山腰，。
    Cóng bàn shān yāo wǎng xià kàn, zhěng gè cūn zi dōu kàn de jiàn.
    Looking down from halfway up the mountain, you can see the whole village.

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.

半bànhalf
山腰mountainside
山shānmountain腰yāowaist
偏正Modifier + head

山腰 is the waist of a mountain, and 半 places something halfway up it.

Characters in this word

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

The shape pairs 八 (to divide) with 牛 (cow), showing a cow cut into two halves.

Open 半 →

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

山 shows three mountain peaks side by side.

Open 山 →

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
⺼Written in full as肉ròuflesh
Sound part声符shēngfú
要
要yào腰yāo
Same sound today

The left part ⺼ is flesh; the right part 要 gives the sound.

Open 腰 →

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