人行道 (rén xíng dào) — sidewalk, pavement

Definition

A paved path beside the road for pedestrians — the raised concrete strip next to 路面 (the road surface itself), not the road edge 路边.

noun

sidewalkpavement

Measure word · 条

，。
Xíng rén yīng gāi zǒu rén xíng dào, bú yào zǒu dào mǎ lù shang.
Pedestrians should walk on the sidewalk, not step onto the road.
人行道。
Zhè tiáo rén xíng dào páng biān zhǒng le hěn duō shù.
Many trees are planted beside this sidewalk.
人行道。
Gōng rén men zhèng zài xiū jiàn xīn de rén xíng dào.
Workers are building a new sidewalk.

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.

人行people walk

主谓Subject + predicate

'人' means person, '行' means walk, and '道' means road, so it is a road for people to walk on.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

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

彳亍行

The shape of 行 originally showed a street intersection, even on both sides. Later it became uneven, with 彳 on the left and 亍 on the right.

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

行行xíngstreet

Sound part声符shēngfú

𩠐

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

Early 道 showed a street 行, a foot 止, and a part written 首 or 𩠐; the right part of 行 later disappeared.

Appears in