下城区 (xià chéng ōu) — Xiacheng District (a district of Hangzhou, Zhej…

Definition

noun

Xiacheng District (a district of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province)

下城区。
Wǒ zhù zài háng zhōu de xià chéng ōu.
I live in Xiacheng District, Hangzhou.
下城区。
xià chéng ōu Yǒu hěn duō gǔ lǎo de jiē dào.
Xiacheng District has many old streets.
下城区。
xià chéng ōu De jiāo tōng fēi cháng fāng biàn.
The transportation in Xiacheng District is very convenient.

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.

下城lower city

偏正Modifier + head

区qūdistrict

下 and 城 form lower city, and 区 marks a district.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

土成城

Meaning part形符xíngfú

土土tǔsoil

Sound part声符shēngfú

成

Same sound today

城 pairs 土 (soil) with 成 as a sound part, because city walls were originally made of stamped earth.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 區; 区 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 區 is made from 匸 and 品; the simplified 区 is a shorthand.