皮箱 (pí xiāng) — leather suitcase

Definition

noun
leather suitcase
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 皮箱
    Tā bǎ suǒ yǒu yī fu dōu fàng jìn pí xiāng lǐ le.
    He put all his clothes into the leather suitcase.
  • 皮箱
    Zhè zhī pí xiāng shì wǒ fù qīn nián qīng shí yòng de.
    This leather suitcase was used by my father when he was young.
  • 皮箱
    Chū mén lǚ xíng shí, tā zǒng shì dài yí gè pí xiāng.
    When traveling, she always brings a leather suitcase.

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.

leather

皮 means leather, 箱 means box; together a leather suitcase.

Characters in this word

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

皮 shows a hand pulling fur off an animal pelt, with the pelt drawn at the upper left.

Open 皮 →

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
𥫗Written in full aszhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
xiāngxiāng
Same sound today

箱 combines 竹, showing bamboo, with 相 as a sound part, to write a bamboo box or case.

Open 箱 →

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