坦克车 (tǎn kè chē) — tank (military armored vehicle)

Definition

noun
tank (military armored vehicle)
Measure word · 辆

Examples

  • 坦克车。
    Zhàn chǎng shàng yǒu yí liàng tǎn kè chē.
    There is a tank on the battlefield.
  • 坦克车。
    Zhè liàng tǎn kè chē shì xīn xíng hào de.
    This tank is a new model.
  • 坦克车。
    Shì bīng men zhèng zài jià shǐ tǎn kè chē qián jìn.
    The soldiers are driving the tank forward.

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.

坦克tank
坦tǎn克kè
车chēvehicle

坦克车 names a tank vehicle: 坦克 is the borrowed name for the armored vehicle, and 车 means vehicle.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
土土tǔearth
Sound part声符shēngfú
旦
旦dàn坦tǎn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

坦 is made from 土 (earth) plus 旦, which provides the sound. The earth part shows the sense is about ground.

Open 坦 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 克 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 車; 车 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 車 was drawn as a carriage seen from above, with wheels on both sides and a shaft at the front; the simplified 车 is a later shorthand.

Open 车 →

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