电话亭 (diàn huà tíng) — telephone booth, call box | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

telephone boothcall box

Measure word · 个

Examples

电话亭。
Wǒ zài diàn huà tíng lǐ dǎ le yí gè diàn huà.
I made a phone call inside the telephone booth.
电话亭。
Jiē jiǎo yǒu gè jiù de diàn huà tíng.
There's an old telephone booth on the street corner.
电话亭。
Xiàn zài hěn shǎo yǒu rén yòng diàn huà tíng le.
Nowadays few people use telephone booths.

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.

电话telephone

电diànelectric话huàspeech

偏正Modifier + head

电话 is a telephone, and 亭 is a booth, giving a booth for a telephone.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 電; 电 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

雨雨yǔrain

Sound part声符shēngfú

申

申shēn電diàn

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For the traditional form 電, 雨 (rain) sits with 申, read shēn and meaning lightning.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 話; 话 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

言言yánword

Sound part声符shēngfú

𠯑

𠯑𠯑話huà

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 話, 言 relates to words and 𠯑 gives the sound; the simplified 话 is a shorthand, so its right side is not that sound part.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Appears in

Public Facilities Phones & Telecom

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