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公共汽车 (gōng gòng qì chē) — bus

Definition

noun
bus
Measure word · 辆

Examples

  • 公共汽车。
    Zhè liàng gōng gòng qì chē shì qù huǒ chē zhàn de.
    This bus goes to the train station.
  • 公共汽车？
    Nǐ zuò jǐ lù gōng gòng qì chē shàng bān?
    Which bus do you take to work?
  • 公共汽车。
    gōng gòng qì chē Shàng rén tài duō le.
    There are too many people on the bus.

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.

公共public
公gōngpublic共gòngshared
联合Coordinate
汽车car/automobile
汽qìsteam车chēvehicle
偏正Modifier + head

公共 means public, and 汽车 means car/automobile, so the word is a public bus.

Characters in this word

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

One theory sees 公 as a picture of a wide-mouthed, round-bottomed jar.

Open 公 →

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

  • 廾廾gǒngtwo hands
  • 口口kǒuan object

共 shows 廾, two hands, holding up an object. That object was written 口 and later became the 廿-like top.

Open 共 →

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
气
气qì汽
Same sound today

The 氵 part is water, and 气 is used for the sound and also means air, so 汽 shows water in an air-like form.

Open 汽 →

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 →
Appears in
HSK 2.0 Level 2

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