棺木 (guān mù) — coffin

Definition

noun
coffin
Measure word · 口

Examples

  • 棺木。
    Nà kǒu guān mù shì yòng hǎo mù tou zuò de.
    That coffin was made of good wood.
  • 棺木。
    Tā men xiǎo xīn dì bǎ guān mù fàng jìn tǔ lǐ.
    They carefully put the coffin into the ground.
  • 棺木。
    guān mù Lǐ fàng zhe tā shēng qián zuì xǐ huan de shū.
    In the coffin were his favorite books from when he was alive.

Origin

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
官
官guān棺guān
Same sound today

The 木 part marks a coffin as a wooden object, and 官 provides the sound.

Open 棺 →

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

木 is drawn as a tree, with branches above and roots below.

Open 木 →

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