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人造卫星 (rén zào wèi xīng) — man-made satellite

Definition

noun
man-made satellite
Measure word · 颗

Examples

  • 人造卫星。
    Zhōng guó fā shè le yì kē rén zào wèi xīng.
    China launched a man-made satellite.
  • 人造卫星。
    rén zào wèi xīng Kě yǐ yòng lái tōng xìn hé guān cè tiān qì.
    Man-made satellites can be used for communication and weather observation.
  • 人造卫星。
    Zhè kē rén zào wèi xīng zài guǐ dào shàng yùn xíng le shí nián.
    This man-made satellite has been operating in orbit for ten years.

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.

人造man-made
人rénhuman造zàomake
主谓Subject + predicate
卫星satellite
卫wèiguard星xīngstar
偏正Modifier + head

“人造” means made by people, “卫星” is a guarding star; together they name a satellite made by humans.

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.

Open 人 →

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
辵辵chuòto walk
口口kǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
屮
屮chè造zào
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

Its origin is unclear, but early forms of 造 include 辵 (to walk) and 口, with 屮 as a sound part, and mean go or arrive.

Open 造 →

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 衛; 卫 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
行行xíng
Sound part声符shēngfú
韋
韋wéi衛wèi
Same sound today

The traditional form 衛 is built from 行 as the sense part and 韋 as the sound part; the simplified 卫 is a shorthand.

Open 卫 →

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

The top of 星 is a later simplified form of 晶, twinkling stars; the bottom 生 shows the sound.

Open 星 →
Appears in
Space Exploration

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