友机 (yǒu jī) — friendly aircraft (as opposed to enemy aircraft)

Definition

Military/aviation term for an aircraft belonging to one's own side, used in contrast to enemy aircraft (敌机). A specialized compound that learners will mostly encounter in news, radar reports, or combat-related texts.

noun
friendly aircraft (as opposed to enemy aircraft)
Measure word · 架
Easily confused

Examples

  • 友机。
    Léi dá shàng chū xiàn le yǒu jī de xìn hào.
    A friendly aircraft signal appeared on the radar.
  • 友机。
    Fēi xíng yuán què rèn le yǒu jī de wèi zhì.
    The pilot confirmed the location of the friendly aircraft.
  • 友机。
    Zhǐ huī bù mìng lìng yǒu jī lì jí fǎn háng.
    The command post ordered the friendly aircraft to return immediately.

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.

友yǒufriendly
机jīaircraft

友 means friendly, and 机 means aircraft; together they name an aircraft on one's own side.

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.

友 is drawn as two 又, the hand form, side by side. The old explanation says two hands together mean friendship.

Open 友 →

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
木木mùtree; wood
Sound part声符shēngfú
几
几jǐ机jī
Same sound today

The left part is 木 (tree; wood), and the right part 几 gives the sound.

Open 机 →

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