岔道 (chà dào) — side road; branching road; fork in the road

Definition

noun

side roadbranching roadfork in the road

Measure word · 条

岔道，？
Qián miàn yǒu yì tiáo chà dào, wǒ men zǒu nǎ yì tiáo?
There is a fork up ahead; which road should we take?
岔道。
Xiǎo xīn bú yào kāi jìn chà dào.
Be careful not to drive into a side road.
岔道，。
Cóng zhǔ lù guǎi jìn chà dào hòu, lù biàn zhǎi le.
After turning off the main road into the side road, the road became narrow.

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.

The 岔 (fork) and 道 (road) form a road that branches off.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

分山岔

岔 combines 分 (split; division) and 山 (mountain), showing a mountain divided into branches.

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

行行xíngstreet

Sound part声符shēngfú

𩠐

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

Early 道 showed a street 行, a foot 止, and a part written 首 or 𩠐; the right part of 行 later disappeared.

Appears in