早操 (zǎo cāo) — morning exercises (typically at school or workplace)

Definition

noun
morning exercises (typically at school or workplace)

Examples

  • 早操。
    Xué shēng men měi tiān qī diǎn zhǔn shí zuò zǎo cāo.
    The students do morning exercises at seven o'clock every day.
  • 早操，。
    Gōng sī zǔ zhī yuán gōng zuò zǎo cāo, zēng qiáng tǐ zhì.
    The company organizes employees to do morning exercises to improve their fitness.
  • 早操，。
    Zuò wán zǎo cāo hòu, dà jiā jīng shen huàn fā.
    After finishing morning exercises, everyone feels refreshed.

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.

早zǎomorning
操cāoexercise

The '早' morning sense specifies the kind of '操' exercise.

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
日日rìsun
Sound part声符shēngfú
棗
棗zǎo早zǎo
Same sound today

The form 早 pairs 日 (sun) with 棗, which gives the sound; an earlier shape of 早 was a picture of an acorn.

Open 早 →

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
手手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
喿
喿zào操cāo
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left part 手 shows a hand, indicating an action done by hand. The right part 喿 gives the sound.

Open 操 →

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