开箱 (kāi xiāng) — to unbox (open a product's packaging, especially for review)

Definition

开箱 means to unbox a product — opening the package to look at, review, or film the contents. It is a modern internet/vlog term, often paired with 视频 ('unboxing video') and treated as a separable verb (开…箱).

verb
to unbox (open a product's packaging, especially for review)

Examples

  • 开箱。
    Tā xǐ huan pāi kāi xiāng shì pín.
    He likes making unboxing videos.
  • ，。
    Wǒ zuó tiān kāi le yí cì xiāng, fā xiàn lǐ miàn shǎo le yí gè líng jiàn.
    I unboxed it yesterday and found a part missing inside.
  • 开箱，。
    Zhè ge kāi xiāng guò chéng hěn jīng cǎi, tuī jiàn nǐ kàn.
    This unboxing process is very exciting; I recommend you watch it.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

开kāiopen
箱xiāngbox

开 means open and 箱 is a box, so it means opening a box, especially for unboxing.

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
𥫗Written in full as竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
相
相xiāng箱xiāng
Same sound today

箱 combines 竹, showing bamboo, with 相 as a sound part, to write a bamboo box or case.

Open 箱 →

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