省城 (shěng chéng) — provincial capital

Definition

noun

provincial capital

Measure word · 座

省城。
Tā dǎ suàn bān dào shěng chéng qù gōng zuò.
He plans to move to the provincial capital to work.
省城。
shěng chéng De jīng jì bǐ zhōu biān chéng shì fā dá dé duō.
The provincial capital's economy is much more developed than the surrounding cities.
省城。
Zhè ge shěng de shěng chéng shì yí zuò lì shǐ yōu jiǔ de gǔ chéng.
The provincial capital of this province is an ancient city with a long history.

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.

省 means province and 城 means city, so a provincial capital is the city of a province.

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.

The upper part of 省 is a changed form of 生, which gave the sound, while the lower 目 is an eye; the picture showed looking closely or inspecting.

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

土成城

Meaning part形符xíngfú

土土tǔsoil

Sound part声符shēngfú

成

Same sound today

城 pairs 土 (soil) with 成 as a sound part, because city walls were originally made of stamped earth.