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扫射 (sǎo shè) — (military) to strafe, to spray with gunfire; (of eyes) to sweep, to scan, to look around rapidly

Definition

Verb meaning to sweep or spray across a target — used for gunfire (an aircraft strafing the ground) and metaphorically for eyes or gaze scanning quickly across people or a space.

verb
(military) to strafeto spray with gunfire(of eyes) to sweepto scanto look around rapidly

Examples

  • ，扫射。
    Fēi jī dī kōng fēi xíng, xiàng dì miàn mù biāo sǎo shè.
    The aircraft flew low and strafed the ground targets.
  • 扫射。
    Tā de mù guāng zài fáng jiān lǐ kuài sù sǎo shè le yì quān.
    His eyes quickly swept around the room.
  • 扫射，。
    Jì zhě sǎo shè le yí xià rén qún, fā xiàn le shú xi de miàn kǒng.
    The reporter scanned the crowd and spotted a familiar face.

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.

扫sǎosweep
射shèshoot

扫 means sweep and 射 means shoot, so gunfire sweeps across an area.

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 掃; 扫 is its simplified writing.

The form 掃 draws a hand with a broomstick, the thing used for sweeping.

Open 扫 →

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

In 射, the left part comes from 弓 (bow) and 矢 (arrow), and the right part comes from a hand drawing the bowstring.

Open 射 →
Appears in
Military & Defense

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