杠 (gāng) — (bound form) bar, stick, rod (as in 杠杆 lever, 双杠 parallel bars, 单杠 horizontal bar); (bound form) to cross out, to delete (as in 杠掉 'to cross out'); (bound form) to dispute, to argue pointlessly (as in 抬杠, 杠精)
Definition
A bound morpheme with three distinct senses: a physical bar (杠杆, 双杠), the act of crossing something out, and pointless arguing (抬杠, 杠精). Rarely stands alone — always appears inside a compound.
bound form
barstickrod (as in 杠杆 lever, 双杠 parallel bars, 单杠 horizontal bar)to cross outto delete (as in 杠掉 'to cross out')to disputeto argue pointlessly (as in 抬杠, 杠精)
Examples
- 。Tā yòng gāng gǎn bān dòng le dà shí tou.He used a lever to move the big rock.
- 杠。Yùn dòng yuán men zài shuāng gāng shàng zuò dòng zuò.The athletes performed moves on the parallel bars.
- ，。Tā men yòu zài tái gāng le, shuí yě bú ràng shuí.They're arguing again, neither giving in.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.
杠 has 木 (tree) on the left and 工 on the right. The 木 part is about wood, and 工 gives the sound.
Appears in
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