胡萝卜 (hú luó bo) — carrot | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

carrot

Measure word · 根

胡萝卜。
Wǒ mā ma jīn tiān mǎi le sān gēn hú luó bo.
My mom bought three carrots today.
胡萝卜。
Tù zi zuì xǐ huan chī hú luó bo.
Rabbits like to eat carrots the most.
胡萝卜。
Bǎ hú luó bo qiē chéng xiǎo kuài fàng jìn tāng lǐ.
Cut the carrot into small pieces and put them in the soup.

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.

胡húforeign

萝卜radish

胡 suggests foreign, 萝卜 denotes radish; together they name the carrot.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

⺼Written in full as肉ròumeat

Sound part声符shēngfú

古

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

胡 combines 古, which points to its sound, with ⺼ (肉), meaning meat or flesh.

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 蘿; 萝 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艸艸cǎo

Sound part声符shēngfú

羅

羅luó蘿luó

Same sound today

The traditional form 蘿 combines 艸 (plants) with 羅, which shows the pronunciation; the simplified 萝 is a later shorthand.

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

卜 is thought to come from the shape of a crack in an oracle bone, which was used for predicting the future.

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