修路 (xiū lù) — to repair a road; to build a road | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

修路 covers both repairing an existing road and building a new one; the two meanings are read from context (e.g. 修好 = finish repairing; 一条新路 = build a new one). It is a verb-object phrase, not a single verb.

verb

to repair a roadto build a road

Examples

修路。
Gōng rén men zhèng zài xiū lù.
The workers are repairing the road.
。
Qù nián cūn lǐ xiū le yì tiáo xīn lù.
Last year the village built a new road.
。
Zhè tiáo lù xiū le bàn nián cái xiū hǎo.
This road took half a year to finish repairing.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

修 means 'repair' and 路 means 'road'; the combination denotes repairing a road.

Characters in this word

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

彡彡shān

Sound part声符shēngfú

攸

攸yōu修xiū

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

修 is built from 攸, which gives the sound, and 彡, a set of three strokes that shows the meaning.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

各

各gè路lù

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

路 combines 足, a foot, with 各, which supplies the sound.

Appears in

Roads & Traffic

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