普照 (pǔ zhào) — to shine upon all; to illuminate everything | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literary/formal verb meaning 'to shine upon all things equally' — typically sunlight or spiritual light (e.g. Buddhist 佛光) rather than a person switching on a lamp.

verb

to shine upon allto illuminate everything

Examples

普照。
Yáng guāng pǔ zhào dà dì.
Sunlight shines upon all the earth.
普照。
Tā de ài xīn pǔ zhào le měi gè rén de xīn.
His love illuminated everyone's heart.
普照。
Fó guāng pǔ zhào zhòng shēng.
The Buddha's light illuminates all sentient beings.

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.

普 gives all or everywhere, and 照 gives shine, so the word means to shine upon everything.

Characters in this word

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

並日普

並並bìngside by side
日日rìsun

普 is made of 日 (sun) and 並 (side by side).

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

灬昭照

Meaning part形符xíngfú

灬Written in full as火huǒfire

Sound part声符shēngfú

昭

昭zhāo照zhào

Same sound today

照 uses 灬, a bottom form of 火 (fire), plus 昭 for the sound.

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