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女厕 (nǚ cè) — women's restroom, ladies' room

Definition

noun
women's restroomladies' room
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 女厕？
    Qǐng wèn nǚ cè zài nǎ lǐ?
    Excuse me, where is the ladies' room?
  • 女厕。
    nǚ cè Mén kǒu pái le hěn cháng de duì.
    There was a long queue at the door of the women's restroom.
  • 女厕。
    Zhè céng lóu de nǚ cè zhèng zài wéi xiū.
    The ladies' room on this floor is under maintenance.

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.

女nǚfemale
厕cètoilet

女 means female and 厕 means toilet, together naming a toilet for women.

Characters in this word

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

女 shows a woman with folded arms, kneeling or standing. In the modern form the figure faces right, and the small enclosed part is what is left of one arm.

Open 女 →

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 廁; 厕 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
广广guǎng
Sound part声符shēngfú
則
則zé廁cè
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 廁 is made from 广 and 則; 則 gives the sound, and 广 relates to the meaning. The simplified 厕 is a later shorthand.

Open 厕 →
Appears in
Public Facilities

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