药瓶 (yào píng) — medicine bottle | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

medicine bottle

Measure word · 个

药瓶。
Wǒ mǎi le yí gè xīn de yào píng.
I bought a new medicine bottle.
药瓶。
Qǐng bǎ yào píng fàng zài zhuō zi shàng.
Please put the medicine bottle on the table.
药瓶。
Zhè ge yào píng de gài zi hěn nán dǎ kāi.
The lid of this medicine bottle is very hard to open.

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.

药yàomedicine

药 means medicine and 瓶 means bottle, so 药瓶 is a bottle for medicine.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 藥; 药 is its simplified writing.

艹樂藥

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎograss

Sound part声符shēngfú

樂

樂lè藥yào

Same sound today

In the traditional form 藥, 艹 shows grass and 樂 gives the sound; this story is about 藥, not about the simplified 药.

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

并瓦瓶

Meaning part形符xíngfú

瓦瓦wǎearthenware

Sound part声符shēngfú

并

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

瓶 uses 瓦 to show an earthenware vessel and 并 for the sound. The original vessel had a long slender neck and narrow mouth.

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