爆炸力 (bào zhà lì) — explosive force

Definition

noun
explosive force

Examples

  • 爆炸力。
    Zhè zhǒng zhà dàn de bào zhà lì fēi cháng qiáng dà.
    The explosive force of this bomb is very powerful.
  • 爆炸力。
    Dì zhèn de bào zhà lì zào chéng le jù dà de pò huài.
    The explosive force of the earthquake caused huge destruction.
  • 爆炸力。
    Kē xué jiā cè liáng le zhè cì bào zhà de bào zhà lì.
    Scientists measured the explosive force of this explosion.

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.

爆炸explosion
爆bàoburst炸zhàexplode
联合Side by side
力lìforce

爆 and 炸 both mean burst or explode, and 力 means force; together they name the force of an explosion.

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
暴
暴bào爆bào
Same sound today

爆 combines 火 (fire) with 暴, which supplies the sound and also originally meant violence.

Open 爆 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 炸 →

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

力 is drawn as either an arm bending out from the side of the body or a wooden plough.

Open 力 →

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