炮台 (pào tái) — fort; artillery battery

Definition

noun

fortartillery battery

Measure word · 座

炮台。
Zhè zuò pào tái jiàn yú qīng cháo.
This fort was built during the Qing dynasty.
炮台。
Shì bīng men shǒu wèi zhe pào tái.
The soldiers guarded the fort.
炮台。
Cóng pào tái shàng kě yǐ kàn dào zhěng gè gǎng kǒu.
From the fort you can see the entire harbor.

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.

台táiplatform

炮 means cannon and 台 means platform, so it names a platform for cannons.

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.

火包炮

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

包

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.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 臺; 台 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 台 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (窗台, 电视台) it is 臺; in others (台灯, 台球) (台风) it is 檯 or 台 or 颱.

The traditional form 臺 is the 喬 + 室 form; earlier versions combined a sound part with 室, and an old reading saw it as a watch tower.