停车楼 (tíng chē lóu) — parking garage, multi-story car park

Definition

A multi-story parking building, usually several floors with ramps. The everyday word for an open parking lot is 停车场; 停车楼 specifically means a tall structure, often underground or above-ground with multiple levels.

noun
parking garagemulti-story car park
Measure word · 座

Examples

  • 停车楼。
    Tā bǎ chē kāi dào tíng chē lóu de sān céng tíng hǎo le.
    He drove the car and parked it on the third floor of the parking garage.
  • 停车楼。
    Zhè ge tíng chē lóu kě yǐ tíng fàng wǔ bǎi liàng chē.
    This parking garage can hold five hundred cars.
  • 停车楼。
    Gōng sī páng biān xīn jiàn le yí zuò tíng chē lóu.
    A new parking garage was built next to the company.

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
楼lóubuilding

停 and 车 mean stop vehicles, and 楼 is a building; together a building for parking cars.

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 樓; 楼 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
木木mùtree
Sound part声符shēngfú
婁
婁lóu樓lóu
Same sound today

The traditional form 樓 pairs 木 (tree) with 婁 as its sound part; the simplified 楼 is a later shorthand.

Open 楼 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.