石阶 (shí jiē) — stone steps; stone staircase

Definition

noun
stone stepsstone staircase
Measure word · 级

Examples

  • 石阶。
    Wǒ men yán zhe shí jiē màn màn wǎng shàng zǒu.
    We walked slowly up the stone steps.
  • 石阶。
    Zhè tiáo shí jiē tōng xiàng shān dǐng de yí zuò gǔ miào.
    These stone steps lead to an ancient temple on the mountaintop.
  • 石阶，。
    Yǔ hòu de shí jiē hěn huá, zǒu de shí hou yào xiǎo xīn.
    The stone steps are slippery after rain; be careful when walking.

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.

石shístone
阶jiēsteps

石 names stone and 阶 names steps, so the word simply means stone steps.

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.

Open 石 →

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 階; 阶 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阝Written in full as阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
皆
皆jiē階jiē
Same sound today

The traditional form 階 uses 阝 (written in full as 阜) to relate to its meaning and 皆 to show its sound; the simplified 阶 is a later shorthand, so its right side is not the old sound part.

Open 阶 →

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