讲价 (jiǎng jià) — to bargain; to haggle over price | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Separable verb: 讲价 means 'to bargain / haggle', splitting as 讲…价 (e.g. 讲了好几次价). Pair with 跟 + person; not used for formal price negotiation.

verb

to bargainto haggle over price

Examples

讲价。
Wǒ zài shì chǎng gēn lǎo bǎn jiǎng jià.
I bargained with the shop owner at the market.
，。
Wǒ men gēn tā jiǎng le hǎo jǐ cì jià, tā dōu bù kěn pián yi yì diǎn.
We bargained with him several times, but he wouldn't lower the price at all.
讲价。
Mǎi dōng xī de shí hou yí dìng yào xué huì jiǎng jià.
When buying things, you must learn to bargain.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

To speak about price is to bargain over it.

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 講; 讲 is its simplified writing.

言冓講

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

冓

冓gòu講jiǎng

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 講 puts 言, say, beside 冓, which gave it its sound; the simplified 讲 is a later abbreviation.

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

人介价

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

介

介jiè价jiè

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

价 pairs 人 (person) with 介, which gives the sound.

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