大理石 (dà lǐ shí) — marble | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

marble

Measure word · 块

大理石。
Zhè dòng lóu de dì bǎn shì dà lǐ shí zuò de.
The floor of this building is made of marble.
大理石。
Zhè ge diāo xiàng shì yòng bái sè dà lǐ shí zuò de.
This statue is made of white marble.
大理石。
Bó wù guǎn de qiáng bì yòng le dà liàng dà lǐ shí.
The museum walls used a large amount of marble.

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.

大理Dali

联绵Bound pair

大理 names a place and 石 means stone, together giving stone from Dali.

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

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

玉玉yùjade

Sound part声符shēngfú

里

Same sound today

理 pairs 玉 (jade) with 里, which shows how to say it; the jade part points to the old sense of polishing jade.

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

The shape of 石 shows a stone under a cliff-like overhang, or a cave set into a cliff side.

Appears in