玻璃 (bō li) — glass | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

玻璃 is the material 'glass' — not the drinking cup (杯子). It's a noun made of two bound characters and is read as one word (bōli).

noun

glass

Measure word · 张, 块

玻璃。
Zhè kuài bō li hěn hòu.
This piece of glass is thick.
玻璃。
Chuāng hu shàng de bō li yào huàn le.
The glass on the window needs to be replaced.
玻璃。
Tā yòng bō li zuò le yí gè bēi zi.
He made a cup out of glass.

Single-morpheme word

构词法gòucífǎ

联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

璃lí

Only 玻璃 as a whole means glass; 玻 and 璃 do not carry separate meanings here.

Sound-only characters

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

王离璃

Meaning part形符xíngfú

王Written in full as玉yùjade

Sound part声符shēngfú

离

Same sound today

In 璃, the left side 王 is jade, written in full as 玉, and the right side 离 gives the sound lí.

Appears in