宾士 (bīn shì) — Mercedes-Benz (Taiwanese term)

Definition

The Taiwanese term for Mercedes-Benz. In Mainland China the same brand is called 奔驰 (bēnchí), so be aware that 宾士 is regional.

noun
Mercedes-Benz (Taiwanese term)
Measure word · 辆
Easily confused

Examples

  • 宾士。
    Tā xīn mǎi le yí liàng bīn shì.
    He bought a new Mercedes-Benz.
  • 宾士。
    Wǒ bà ba zuì xǐ huan de chē jiù shì bīn shì.
    My dad's favorite car is Mercedes-Benz.
  • ，宾士。
    Zài tái wān, bīn shì shì hěn cháng jiàn de háo huá chē.
    In Taiwan, Mercedes-Benz is a very common luxury car.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
音译yīnyìTransliteration

The characters spell the sound of a foreign word; their individual meanings play no part.

宾bīn
士shì

宾 and 士 only spell the foreign name for Mercedes-Benz; they carry no meaning here.

Sound-only characters

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 賓; 宾 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèi
Sound part声符shēngfú
𡧍
𡧍𡧍賓bīn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 賓 is built from 𡧍 and 貝: 𡧍 gives the sound, and 貝 relates to the meaning. The simplified 宾 is a later abbreviation, so its parts are not the historical pieces.

Open 宾 →

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

The shape 士 comes from a simple drawing of a war axe. The character later came to mean a soldier, officer, or intellectual.

Open 士 →

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