吨位 (dūn wèi) — (classifier) tonnage (of a ship)

Definition

吨位 is a unit/classifier for the tonnage of a large vessel (a ship's carrying capacity in tons). It is a fixed marine/naval term — not a general measure word for everyday weight.

classifier
tonnage (of a ship)

Examples

  • 吨位。
    Zhè sōu chuán de dūn wèi hěn dà.
    This ship's tonnage is very large.
  • 吨位。
    Gǎng kǒu kě yǐ tíng kào shí wàn dūn dūn wèi de huò lún.
    The port can dock cargo ships of 100,000 tons.
  • 吨位。
    Zhè sōu yóu lún de dūn wèi chāo guò sān shí wàn.
    The tonnage of this oil tanker exceeds 300,000.

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.

吨dūnton
位wèiunit

“吨” gives the ton and “位” gives the unit, together naming tonnage.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 吨 →

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
人人rénman
Sound part声符shēngfú
立
立lì位wèi
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

位 combines 人 (man), related to people, with 立, which gives the sound. It was often simply written as 立.

Open 位 →

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