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账单 (zhàng dān) — bill (itemized statement of charges)

Definition

账单 (zhàngdān) is the itemized statement of what you owe — a phone bill, hotel bill, etc. 钞票 and 纸币 are the physical banknotes you pay with, while 账户 is the account itself, not the bill.

noun
bill (itemized statement of charges)
Measure word · 张

Examples

  • 账单？
    Nǐ fù le zhè ge yuè de zhàng dān ma?
    Have you paid this month's bill?
  • 账单。
    Jiǔ diàn de fú wù yuán bǎ zhàng dān sòng dào fáng jiān lǐ le.
    The hotel waiter brought the bill to the room.
  • 账单。
    Zài wǎng shàng zhī fù zhàng dān de shí hou yào zhù yì ān quán.
    When paying bills online, you should pay attention to security.

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.

账zhàngaccount/ledger
单dānlist/slip

账 gives the idea of accounts and 单 a written list, so the word means a bill.

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 賬; 账 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèishell
Sound part声符shēngfú
長
長cháng賬
Same sound today

In the traditional form 賬, 貝 is a shell and 長 is used for the sound; the simplified 账 is a later shorthand, not the historical shape.

Open 账 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 單; 单 is its simplified writing.

The form 單 originally pictured a Y-shaped wooden stick with two stones on top.

Open 单 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6Dining & Restaurants

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