白条 (bái tiáo) — informal IOU or promissory note (often without legal force); slaughtered and cleaned (chicken or fish), ready for cooking

Definition

白条 is a colloquial word with two distinct senses: an informal IOU or handwritten promissory note (often not legally binding), and a chicken or fish already slaughtered, cleaned, and ready to cook.

noun
informal IOU or promissory note (often without legal force)slaughtered and cleaned (chicken or fish)ready for cooking
Measure word · 张

Examples

  • 白条，。
    Gōng sī zhī gěi wǒ kāi le yì zhāng bái tiáo, méi shuō shén me shí hou gěi qián.
    The company only gave me an IOU and didn't say when they would pay.
  • 白条，。
    Zài cài shì chǎng mǎi le yì zhī bái tiáo jī, huí jiā zhí jiē dùn tāng.
    At the market I bought a cleaned chicken and stewed it directly at home.
  • 白条。
    Nà zhāng bái tiáo gēn běn méi yǒu fǎ lǜ xiào lì.
    That promissory note has no legal force at all.

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.

白báiplain
条tiáostrip

白 suggests cleaned or blank, and 条 a strip or note, giving an informal voucher or cleaned carcass.

Characters in this word

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

白 is thought to picture either an acorn or a human head.

Open 白 →

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 條; 条 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
木木mù
Sound part声符shēngfú
攸
攸yōu條tiáo
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 條 pairs 木, a small branch or stick, with 攸, which shows a person warned by a hand holding a stick, as a sound part; 条 is a later shortened shape.

Open 条 →

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