展位 (zhǎn wèi) — exhibition booth; trade fair stand

Definition

noun

exhibition boothtrade fair stand

Measure word · 个

展位。
Gōng sī zū le yí gè hěn dà de zhǎn wèi.
The company rented a very large exhibition booth.
展位。
Cān guān zhě fēn fēn zǒu xiàng wǒ men de zhǎn wèi.
Visitors all walked toward our booth.
展位。
Wǒ men tí qián yí gè yuè yù dìng le zhǎn wèi.
We booked the stand a month in advance.

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.

位wèiposition

展 contributes “display,” and 位 contributes “position,” together meaning a booth or stand in an exhibition.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

𧝑

𧝑𧝑展zhǎn

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

展 is built from 尸 and 𧝑. The 𧝑 part points to fine red silk clothes and also contains the idea of opening or extending.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

立

立lì位wèi

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

位 combines 人 (man), related to people, with 立, which gives the sound. It was often simply written as 立.