果汁 (guǒ zhī) — fruit juice

Definition

Fruit juice (a drink made from fruit). Don't confuse with 水果, which means the whole fruit itself — 果汁 is what you drink, 水果 is what you eat.

noun
fruit juice
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 果汁
    Wǒ mǎi le yì bēi guǒ zhī.
    I bought a glass of fruit juice.
  • 果汁
    Zhè ge guǒ zhī hěn hǎo hē.
    This fruit juice tastes very good.
  • 果汁
    Mā ma xǐ huan hē píng guǒ guǒ zhī.
    Mom likes to drink apple juice.

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.

guǒfruit
zhījuice

果 names the fruit source, and 汁 the liquid drawn from it.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

果 originally drew fruits hanging on a tree.

Open 果 →

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
Written in full asshuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
shízhī(r)
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

汁 has 氵, a form of 水, on the left and 十 on the right. The water part shows it is about a liquid, and 十 gives the sound.

Open 汁 →

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