德士古 (dé shì gǔ) — Texaco (oil company)

Definition

noun

Texaco (oil company)

德士古。
dé shì gǔ Shì yì jiā měi guó shí yóu gōng sī.
Texaco is an American oil company.
德士古。
Tā zài dé shì gǔ gōng zuò le èr shí nián.
He worked at Texaco for twenty years.
德士古。
dé shì gǔ De jiā yóu zhàn biàn bù quán měi.
Texaco's gas stations are all over the United States.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

彳彳chìroad

Sound part声符shēngfú

惪

惪dé德dé

Same sound today

德 combines 彳, a road, with 惪, a component meaning virtue that also supplies the sound.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape 士 comes from a simple drawing of a war axe. The character later came to mean a soldier, officer, or intellectual.

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

One reading of 古 sees a shield-like shape above an open mark, showing strength and firmness. Another sees a person spitting out bad-tasting food.