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袋鼠 (dài shǔ) — kangaroo

Definition

noun
kangaroo
Measure word · 只

Examples

  • 袋鼠。
    Dòng wù yuán lǐ yǒu hěn duō dài shǔ.
    There are many kangaroos in the zoo.
  • 袋鼠。
    dài shǔ Yòng wěi ba bǎo chí píng héng.
    Kangaroos use their tails to keep balance.
  • 袋鼠。
    Wǒ zài ào dà lì yà kàn dào le yì zhī huī sè dài shǔ.
    I saw a gray kangaroo in Australia.

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.

袋dàipouch
鼠shǔrat

袋 means pouch and 鼠 means rat-like animal, so the sense is a pouch-bearing rat.

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
衣衣yīclothes
Sound part声符shēngfú
代
代dài袋dài
Same sound today

袋 combines 衣 (clothes) with 代, where 衣 gives the meaning and 代 gives the sound.

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

The shape of 鼠 pictures a rat: the upper part looks like an open mouth with teeth, while the lower part shows two feet on the left and a tail on the right.

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