商城 (Shāng chéng) — shopping center, shopping mall

Definition

noun
shopping centershopping mall
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 商城
    Zhè ge Shāng chéng zuì jìn kāi le jǐ jiā xīn diàn.
    This shopping center recently opened several new stores.
  • 商城
    Zhōu mò hěn duō rén dōu qù Shāng chéng guàng jiē mǎi dōng xī.
    On weekends many people go to the mall to shop and buy things.
  • 商城
    Shāng chéng De dì xià tíng chē chǎng hěn dà, tíng chē hěn fāng biàn.
    The underground parking lot of the shopping center is very large, so parking is convenient.

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.

商城 joins 商 trade with 城 city, meaning a shopping center or mall.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 商 →

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
soil
Sound part声符shēngfú
chéngchéng
Same sound today

城 pairs 土 (soil) with 成 as a sound part, because city walls were originally made of stamped earth.

Open 城 →

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