票房 (piào fáng) — box office (revenue or earnings) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

box office (revenue or earnings)

Examples

票房。
Zhè bù diàn yǐng de piào fáng chāo guò le shí yì.
This movie's box office exceeded one billion.
票房。
Qù nián nà bù diàn yǐng de piào fáng bǐ jīn nián gāo dé duō.
Last year's movie had a much higher box office than this year's.
票房。
Zhè wèi dǎo yǎn de xīn zuò piào fáng bú tài lǐ xiǎng.
This director's new film's box office is not very ideal.

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.

票房 combines 'ticket' and 'room' to mean the place where tickets are sold.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

火火huǒfire
𢍱𢍱𢍱to rise high

票 combines 火 (fire) and 𢍱 (to rise high), originally representing sparks rising up.

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

戶戶hùdoor

Sound part声符shēngfú

方

方fāng房fáng

Same sound today

房 pairs 戶 (door) with 方 (fāng) as a sound part; 方 can also fit 'side,' as in a side room beside the main room.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Business & Commerce Film & Theater

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