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转播 (zhuǎn bō) — to relay, to broadcast (a program on TV or radio)

Definition

转播 means to relay/rebroadcast someone else's broadcast (e.g. picking up a satellite feed and airing it), unlike 播放 (playing your own media) or 直播 (live broadcast).

verb
to relayto broadcast (a program on TV or radio)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 转播。
    Zhè chǎng zú qiú sài jiāng zài diàn shì shàng zhuǎn bō.
    This football match will be broadcast on TV.
  • 转播。
    Tā men yòng wèi xīng zhuǎn bō le yīn yuè huì.
    They relayed the concert via satellite.
  • 转播。
    Hěn duō wǎng zhàn huì zhuǎn bō zhè ge zhòng yào xīn wén.
    Many websites will broadcast this important news.

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.

转zhuǎnrelay
播bōbroadcast

转 means relay or pass on, and 播 means broadcast, so the meaning is sending a program onward.

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 轉; 转 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
車車jūcarriage
Sound part声符shēngfú
專
專zhuān轉zhuǎn
Same sound today

The traditional form 轉 combines 車, a carriage, with 專 as a sound part; the simplified 转 is a later shorthand.

Open 转 →

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
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
番
番fān播bō
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

播 is built from 扌, a hand radical, plus 番 as a sound part. The hand part marks it as something done by hand.

Open 播 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Media & News

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