中档 (zhōng dàng) — medium class; middle grade; mid-range

Definition

noun

medium classmiddle grademid-range

中档。
Zhè ge pǐn pái de chǎn pǐn shǔ yú zhōng dàng.
This brand's products belong to the mid-range.
中档。
Tā men xuǎn zé le yì jiā zhōng dàng jiǔ diàn.
They chose a mid-range hotel.
中档。
zhōng dàng De qì chē jià gé bǐ jiào hé lǐ.
Mid-range cars have relatively reasonable prices.

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.

中 means middle and 档 means grade, so it refers to a middle grade or mid-range class.

Characters in this word

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

The original picture showed a flagpole with a drum in the middle, set up in the center of a field.

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 檔; 档 is its simplified writing.

木當檔

Meaning part形符xíngfú

木木mùtree

Sound part声符shēngfú

當

當dāng檔dàng

Same sound today

The traditional form 檔 pairs 木, a tree, with 當 as the sound part. The simplified 档 is an abbreviation of 檔.