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二三十 (èr sān shí) — twenty or thirty (approximate number between 20 and 30)

Definition

numeral
twenty or thirty (approximate number between 20 and 30)

Examples

  • 二三十。
    Tā kàn qǐ lái zhǐ yǒu èr sān shí suì.
    He looks only twenty or thirty years old.
  • 二三十。
    Jiào shì lǐ zuò zhe èr sān shí gè xué shēng.
    There are twenty or thirty students sitting in the classroom.
  • 二三十。
    Zhè ge yuè de diàn fèi dà gài yào èr sān shí kuài.
    This month's electricity bill will be around twenty or thirty yuan.

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.

二三two or three
二èrtwo三sānthree
联合Coordinate
十shíten

二三 means two or three and 十 means ten, together giving an approximate twenty or thirty.

Characters in this word

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

二 is drawn as two parallel strokes, where the number of strokes shows the amount.

Open 二 →

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

三 is drawn as three parallel strokes, like 一 with one stroke and 二 with two.

Open 三 →

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

The early shape 十 was mostly a single vertical stroke, sometimes with a dot, and later gained a horizontal stroke to form a cross. For the number ten, it marked the next digit above one.

Open 十 →
Appears in
Numbers & Counting

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