广播体操 (guǎng bō tǐ cāo) — broadcast calisthenics (standardized group exercises set to radio music, a Chinese cultural institution)

Definition

A standardized set of group exercises done to music broadcast over a public speaker — a familiar daily routine in Chinese schools and workplaces since the 1950s.

noun
broadcast calisthenics (standardized group exercises set to radio music, a Chinese cultural institution)
Measure word · 套

Examples

  • ，广播体操。
    Měi tiān zǎo shàng shí diǎn, quán xiào xué shēng dōu yào zuò guǎng bō tǐ cāo.
    Every morning at ten, all students in the school do broadcast calisthenics.
  • 广播体操。
    guǎng bō tǐ cāo Zài zhōng guó yǐ jīng yǒu qī shí duō nián de lì shǐ le.
    Broadcast calisthenics has been around in China for over seventy years.
  • 广播体操。
    Gōng sī zǔ zhī yuán gōng měi tiān xià wǔ zuò yí biàn guǎng bō tǐ cāo.
    The company organizes employees to do one round of broadcast calisthenics every afternoon.

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.

广播broadcast
广guǎngwide播bōdisseminate
偏正Modifier + head
体操gymnastics
体tǐbody操cāoexercise
偏正Modifier + head

The wide dissemination in “广播” describes the body exercises in “体操”.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 廣; 广 is its simplified writing.

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

The traditional form 廣 combines 广 (meaning part) with 黃 (sound part); the simplified 广 is a later shorthand, not the full historical shape.

Open 广 →

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
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
番
番fān播bō
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

播 is built from 扌, a hand radical, plus 番 as a sound part. The hand part marks it as something done by hand.

Open 播 →

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 體; 体 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
骨骨gǔbone
Sound part声符shēngfú
豊
豊lǐ體tǐ
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 體 pairs 骨 (bone) with 豊 as a sound part; this note is about 體, not about the parts of 体.

Open 体 →

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
手手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
喿
喿zào操cāo
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left part 手 shows a hand, indicating an action done by hand. The right part 喿 gives the sound.

Open 操 →

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