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开炮 (kāi pào) — (literal) to open fire with artillery, to fire a cannon; (figurative) to launch harsh criticism at someone

Definition

开炮 literally means to fire a cannon / open fire with artillery; figuratively it means to launch harsh, direct criticism at someone. The figurative sense is common in news and political commentary.

verb
(literal) to open fire with artilleryto fire a cannon(figurative) to launch harsh criticism at someone

Examples

  • 。
    Dí rén xiàng wǒ men kāi le yí pào.
    The enemy fired a cannon at us.
  • 开炮。
    Tā zài huì shàng kāi pào pī píng le lǐng dǎo.
    He launched criticism at the boss during the meeting.
  • 开炮。
    Pào bīng bù duì zhèng zài kāi pào.
    The artillery unit is opening fire.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

开kāioperate
炮pàocannon

operate and cannon combine to mean fire artillery.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 開; 开 is its simplified writing.

  • 門門méndoor
  • 一一yīlatch and/or wooden pole that shuts a door
  • 廾廾gǒnga pair of hands

The traditional form 開 shows 廾, a pair of hands, and 一, a latch or pole, inside 門, a door: hands opening a latched door. The simplified 开 is a shorthand form, so its parts are not the original pieces.

Open 开 →

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
火火huǒ
Sound part声符shēngfú
包
包bāo炮pào
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

炮 combines 火 and 包; 包 supplies the sound.

Open 炮 →
Appears in
Military & Defense

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