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停车场 (tíng chē chǎng) — parking lot, car park

Definition

The place itself where cars are parked (a lot, a garage building). A 车位 is the individual marked space for one car, and 车库 is a private/attached garage.

noun
parking lotcar park
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 停车场。
    Wǒ bǎ chē kāi dào tíng chē chǎng le.
    I drove the car to the parking lot.
  • 停车场。
    Zhè ge tíng chē chǎng kě yǐ tíng yì bǎi liàng chē.
    This parking lot can hold a hundred cars.
  • 停车场。
    Tā zhèng zài tíng chē chǎng zhǎo tā de chē.
    He is looking for his car in the parking lot.

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.

停车park
停tíngstop车chēvehicle
动宾Verb + object
场chǎngplace

停车 (stop a vehicle) describes the purpose of 场 (place), giving a place for parking.

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
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
亭
亭tíng停tíng
Same sound today

The left side 亻 is a person, and the right side 亭 gives the sound tíng; this forms 停.

Open 停 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 車; 车 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 車 was drawn as a carriage seen from above, with wheels on both sides and a shaft at the front; the simplified 车 is a later shorthand.

Open 车 →

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 場; 场 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
土土tǔearth
Sound part声符shēngfú
昜
昜yáng場chǎng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 場 pairs 土 (earth) with 昜 as a sound part; the simplified 场 is a later abbreviation, so its parts do not have that historical role.

Open 场 →
Appears in
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