石桥 (shí qiáo) — stone bridge | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A literal compound meaning 'stone bridge' — 石 'stone' + 桥 'bridge'. Concrete, transparent noun; no hidden meanings.

noun

stone bridge

Measure word · 座

石桥。
Zhè zuò shí qiáo yǒu wǔ bǎi nián de lì shǐ le.
This stone bridge has a history of five hundred years.
石桥。
Xiǎo hé shàng yǒu yí zuò gǔ lǎo de shí qiáo.
There is an ancient stone bridge over the small river.
石桥。
shí qiáo De liǎng biān dōu zhǎng mǎn le qīng tái.
Both sides of the stone bridge are covered in moss.

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.

石 means stone and 桥 means bridge, so the word names a bridge made of stone.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 石 shows a stone under a cliff-like overhang, or a cave set into a cliff side.

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 橋; 桥 is its simplified writing.

木喬橋

Meaning part形符xíngfú

木木mùwood

Sound part声符shēngfú

喬

喬qiáo橋qiáo

Same sound today

The traditional form 橋 pairs 木 (wood) with 喬 (qiáo), which gave the character its sound; the simplified 桥 is a later abbreviation.