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面的 (miàn de) — taxi van; minivan taxi

Definition

面的 (miàn de) is a colloquial Beijing-era term for a minivan taxi — cheaper than a regular 出租车 but rarely used now; mostly encountered in older speech or writing.

noun
taxi vanminivan taxi
Measure word · 辆

Examples

  • 面的。
    Zuó tiān wǒ dǎ le yí gè miàn de qù jī chǎng.
    Yesterday I took a van taxi to the airport.
  • 面的。
    Zhè zhǒng miàn de bǐ pǔ tōng chū zū chē pián yi yì diǎn.
    This kind of van taxi is a bit cheaper than regular taxis.
  • 面的。
    Zài jiē shàng hěn róng yì lán dào miàn de.
    It's easy to hail a van taxi on the street.

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.

面miànvan
的detaxi

面 points to a van, and 的 points to a taxi, together naming a taxi van.

Characters in this word

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

面 originally drew a man’s face, with one eye exaggerated; the horizontal stroke was added later.

Open 面 →

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
白白báiwhite
Sound part声符shēngfú
勺
勺sháo的de
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

的 pairs 白, related to white or brightness, with 勺, which gives a clue to the sound. Its older form 旳 meant bright.

Open 的 →
Appears in
Vehicles

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