橡皮泥 (xiàng pí ní) — playdough, modeling clay

Definition

noun
playdoughmodeling clay
Measure word · 块

Examples

  • 橡皮泥。
    Hái zi xǐ huan yòng xiàng pí ní niē xiǎo dòng wù.
    Children like to use playdough to mold little animals.
  • 橡皮泥。
    Wǒ mǎi le yì hé xiàng pí ní sòng gěi mèi mei.
    I bought a box of playdough to give to my little sister.
  • 橡皮泥，。
    Zhè zhǒng xiàng pí ní kě yǐ fǎn fù shǐ yòng, bú huì biàn gān.
    This type of playdough can be used over and over and won't dry out.

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.

橡皮rubber
橡xiàngrubber tree皮pískin
偏正Modifier + head
泥níclay

橡皮 means rubber, and 泥 means mud or clay; together they name rubber-like modeling clay.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 橡 →

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

皮 shows a hand pulling fur off an animal pelt, with the pelt drawn at the upper left.

Open 皮 →

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
尼
尼ní泥nì
Same sound today

The left side is 氵, the water part; the right side is 尼, which gives the sound.

Open 泥 →

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