旁听席 (páng tīng xí) — public gallery; visitors' seats (in a court, pa…

Definition

noun

public galleryvisitors' seats (in a court, parliament, etc.)

Measure word · 个

，旁听席。
Zài fǎ tíng shàng, páng tīng xí zuò mǎn le rén.
In the courtroom, the public gallery was full.
旁听席。
Jì zhě zhǐ néng cóng páng tīng xí guān kàn huì yì.
Journalists could only watch the meeting from the visitors' seats.
旁听席。
Fǎ yuàn de páng tīng xí kě yǐ róng nà wǔ shí rén.
The court's public gallery can hold fifty people.

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.

旁听listen in

偏正Modifier + head

旁听 gives listening from the side, and 席 gives the seats where that happens.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

方

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 旁, 方 is the lower part and gives the sound. The upper part is unclear and may have been part of the meaning.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 聽; 听 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 聽 has 耳 (ear) and 口 (mouth), used for listening; the simplified 听 is a later shortened form unrelated to that picture.

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

席 originally showed a woven mat with an ornament. In 席, the mat became 巾, and a later sound part was written as 庶.