建材 (jiàn cái) — building materials | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

building materials

Examples

建材。
Zhè xiē jiàn cái zhì liàng hěn hǎo.
These building materials are of good quality.
建材。
Wǒ men xū yào mǎi yì xiē jiàn cái lái zhuāng xiū fáng zi.
We need to buy some building materials to renovate the house.
建材。
Zhè jiā diàn zhuān mén mài jiàn cái.
This shop specializes in selling building materials.

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.

建jiànbuilding

材cáimaterial

建 refers to building and 材 to materials, giving the sense of materials used in construction.

Characters in this word

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

廴聿建

廴廴yǐn
聿聿yù

The shape 建 shows 廴 and 聿, but it comes from an older drawing of a hand planting a pole into a base; the lower part of 聿 is not a brush.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

木才材

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

才

才cái材cái

Same sound today

材 combines 木, wood, with 才, cái, as its sound part.

Appears in

Materials & Substances

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