土屋 (tǔ wū) — earthen house | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

earthen house

Measure word · 间

Examples

土屋。
Zhè shì zǔ bèi liú xià de tǔ wū.
This is an earthen house left by our ancestors.
土屋。
Nà zuò tǔ wū yǐ jīng yǒu yì bǎi duō nián le.
That earthen house is already over a hundred years old.
土屋。
Tā men zhù zài cūn kǒu de tǔ wū lǐ.
They live in an earthen house at the village entrance.

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.

土 (earth) + 屋 (house) gives a house made of earth.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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

室室shìroom

Sound part声符shēngfú

𡉉

𡉉𡉉屋wū

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

屋 comes from 室, meaning room, with 𡉉 for sound; its upper part later changed into an unrelated shape.

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