撞倒 (zhuàng dǎo) — to knock down (by bumping into something)

Definition

verb
to knock down (by bumping into something)

Examples

  • ,撞倒。
    Tā zài lù shang qí chē shí, bù xiǎo xīn zhuàng dǎo le yí gè xíng rén.
    He accidentally knocked down a pedestrian while biking on the road.
  • 撞倒,。
    Tā bèi yí liàng chē zhuàng dǎo le, xìng hǎo méi yǒu shòu zhòng shāng.
    He was knocked down by a car, but fortunately wasn't seriously injured.
  • ,撞倒。
    Fēng hěn dà, guǎng gào pái bèi fēng zhuàng dǎo le.
    The wind was strong, and the billboard was knocked down by the wind.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

倒dǎofall down

撞 means to bump into, and 倒 gives the result of falling down, so the action knocks something over.

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
扌Written in full as手shǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
童
童tóng撞zhuàng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 扌 is the hand radical, written in full as 手, and the right side 童 supplies the sound.

Open 撞 →

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
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
到
到dào倒dào
Same sound today

倒 combines 亻 (person) with 到, which gives the sound.

Open 倒 →

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