喷泉 (pēn quán) — fountain | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

喷泉 is a man-made decorative fountain (water shot up into the air). 源泉 is a natural spring or figurative 'source' — never used for a built fountain.

noun

fountain

Measure word · 个

喷泉。
Gōng yuán lǐ yǒu yí gè piào liang de pēn quán.
There is a beautiful fountain in the park.
喷泉。
Xià tiān hái zi men xǐ huan zài pēn quán páng biān wán shuǐ.
In summer, children like to play with water next to the fountain.
喷泉，。
Zhè ge pēn quán wǎn shàng huì liàng dēng, fēi cháng hǎo kàn.
This fountain lights up at night and looks very beautiful.

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.

喷 is to spurt, and 泉 is a spring, so together they denote a spring that spurts.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 噴; 喷 is its simplified writing.

口賁噴

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

賁

賁bì噴pēn

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 噴 pairs 口, mouth, with 賁 for the sound; the simplified 喷 is a later shorthand.

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

白水泉

泉 pairs 白 (spring mouth) with 水 (water) to show water flowing from the source of a spring.

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