床板 (chuáng bǎn) — bed board; bed plank

Definition

noun
bed boardbed plank
Measure word · 块

Examples

  • 床板。
    Zhè zhāng chuáng bǎn shì mù tou zuò de.
    This bed board is made of wood.
  • 床板，。
    chuáng bǎn Huài le, xū yào huàn yì zhāng xīn de.
    The bed board is broken; I need to replace it with a new one.
  • 床板。
    Tā bǎ chuáng bǎn cā gān jìng le.
    He wiped the bed board clean.

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.

床chuángbed
板bǎnboard

The 板 for a 床 gives a bed board or plank.

Characters in this word

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

The 床 shape combines 广, a house, and 木, tree, to show a wooden bed inside a house.

Open 床 →

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
木木mùtree
Sound part声符shēngfú
反
反fǎn板bǎn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

板 pairs 木 (tree) with 反 as a sound part.

Open 板 →

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