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风暴 (fēng bào) — storm, tempest (weather); (figurative) storm, crisis, upheaval (in politics, finance, etc.)

Definition

风暴 literally means 'storm' (violent wind and weather); figuratively it extends to political or economic upheaval, similar to 危机. 风波 shares the figurative 'crisis/disturbance' sense but emphasizes social dispute rather than large-scale upheaval.

noun
stormtempest (weather)(figurative) stormcrisisupheaval (in politics, finance, etc.)
Measure word · 场

Examples

  • 风暴，。
    Zuó tiān de fēng bào hěn dà, chuī dǎo le hěn duō shù.
    Yesterday's storm was strong, blowing down many trees.
  • 风暴。
    Zhè cì zhèng zhì fēng bào yǐng xiǎng le zhěng gè guó jiā.
    This political storm affected the entire country.
  • 风暴。
    Jīng jì fēng bào ràng hěn duō gōng sī pò chǎn le.
    The economic storm caused many companies to go bankrupt.

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.

风fēngwind
暴bàoviolent

“风” gives the wind/storm idea, and “暴” sharpens it with violence or suddenness, so the sense is a storm or crisis.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 风 →

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

The earliest form paired 虎 and 戈, a tiger and a weapon. The later 暴 came from a picture of hands drying something in the sun.

Open 暴 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Weather5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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