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外线 (wài xiàn) — exterior lines (military/strategic); outside (phone) connection

Definition

Literally 'outside line(s)'. In military/strategic context, refers to operating on exterior lines (外线作战); in telephony, an outside line as opposed to an internal one (内线).

noun
exterior lines (military/strategic)outside (phone) connection

Examples

  • 外线。
    Zhè cì zhàn yì wǒ jūn cǎi yòng le wài xiàn zuò zhàn de cè lüè.
    In this campaign, our army adopted the strategy of exterior line operations.
  • 外线。
    Gōng sī měi gè yuán gōng dōu kě yǐ zhí jiē dǎ wài xiàn.
    Every employee in the company can directly make outside calls.
  • 外线，。
    Qǐng bāng wǒ jiē yí xià wài xiàn, wǒ yào lián xì kè hù.
    Please help me connect an outside line, I need to contact a client.

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.

外wàioutside
线xiànline

外 means outside and 线 means line; together they refer to exterior lines or an outside connection.

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
卜卜bǔ
Sound part声符shēngfú
月
月yuè外wài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

外 pairs 卜 with 月, a crescent moon; in its older form, the 卜 part had a horizontal bar extending outward, giving the sense of outside.

Open 外 →

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 線; 线 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糹Written in full as糸mì
Sound part声符shēngfú
泉
泉quán線xiàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 線 uses 糹 (silk/thread) to show the meaning and 泉 to suggest the sound; the simplified 线 is a later shorthand.

Open 线 →
Appears in
Phones & Telecom

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