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公升 (gōng shēng) — (classifier) liter (unit of volume)

Definition

A formal written-Chinese measure word for 'liter,' mostly seen on product labels, manuals, and technical writing. In everyday speech learners will more often hear 升 or the loanword 毫升.

classifier
liter (unit of volume)

Examples

  • 公升。
    Wǒ mǎi le yì gōng shēng niú nǎi.
    I bought a liter of milk.
  • 公升。
    Zhè ge píng zi néng zhuāng liǎng gōng shēng shuǐ.
    This bottle can hold two liters of water.
  • 公升。
    Qì chē yóu xiāng yǒu wǔ shí gōng shēng de róng liàng.
    The car's fuel tank has a capacity of fifty liters.

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gōngmetric
升shēngunit

'公' marks the metric system and '升' is a volume unit, together meaning liter.

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 →

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

The shape comes from a drawing of a standard dipper used to measure one 升.

Open 升 →
Appears in
Units & Measurement

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