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铁窗 (tiě chuāng) — barred window; window with iron grating; prison (by metonymy); prison life

Definition

Literally 'iron window' (the barred window itself). By metonymy it stands for prison and the life lived there — used in writing, not everyday speech about jail.

noun
barred windowwindow with iron gratingprison (by metonymy)prison life
Measure word · 扇

Examples

  • 铁窗。
    Zhè dòng lǎo fáng zi de tiě chuāng yǐ jīng shēng xiù le.
    The barred windows of this old house have already rusted.
  • 铁窗。
    Tā zài tiě chuāng zhōng dù guò le shí nián.
    He spent ten years in prison.
  • 铁窗。
    Zuò jiā miáo xiě le tiě chuāng shēng huó de jiān kǔ.
    The writer described the hardships of prison life.

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.

铁tiěiron
窗chuāngwindow

The material 铁 on a barred 窗 evokes prison life.

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 鐵; 铁 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
金金jīnmetal
Sound part声符shēngfú
𢧤
𢧤𢧤鐵tiě
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 鐵 pairs 金 (metal) with 𢧤 as a sound part; the simplified 铁 is a later shorthand.

Open 铁 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

窗 combines 穴 (hole) with 囱 (window), giving the sense of an opening used as a window.

Open 窗 →
Appears in
Crime & Police

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