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炮兵 (pào bīng) — artillery (the branch or weapon system); artilleryman, artillery soldier

Definition

炮兵 refers both to the artillery branch of the army and to a soldier who serves in it. As a collective noun (large-scale weapons in example 2), it pairs with 部队 "unit"; as a role (one soldier in example 1), it takes 一名.

noun
artillery (the branch or weapon system)artillerymanartillery soldier

Examples

  • 炮兵。
    Tā zài jūn duì lǐ shì yì míng pào bīng.
    He is an artilleryman in the army.
  • 炮兵。
    Zhè cì yǎn xí dòng yòng le dà liàng pào bīng.
    This exercise deployed a large amount of artillery.
  • 炮兵。
    pào bīng Bù duì zhèng zài qián xiàn zhī yuán bù bīng.
    The artillery unit is supporting the infantry on the front line.

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.

炮pàocannon
兵bīngsoldier

炮 names cannons, and 兵 names soldiers, so the word means cannon troops or artillery.

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
火火huǒ
Sound part声符shēngfú
包
包bāo炮pào
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

炮 combines 火 and 包; 包 supplies the sound.

Open 炮 →

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

  • 斤斤jīna short axe
  • 廾廾gǒng2 hands

兵 combines 斤, a short axe, with 廾, two hands, showing a pair of hands holding a weapon.

Open 兵 →
Appears in
Military & Defense

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