切面 (qiē miàn) — cut surface; section; (mathematics) tangent plane; machine-made noodles

Definition

A single noun covering three different things: a 'cut surface' (the cross-section of an object), the 'tangent plane' in geometry, and 'machine-made noodles' (as opposed to hand-pulled 手擀面).

noun
cut surfacesection(mathematics) tangent planemachine-made noodles

Examples

  • 切面。
    Zhè ge shuǐ guǒ de qiē miàn hěn guāng huá.
    The cut surface of this fruit is very smooth.
  • ，切面。
    Zài jǐ hé xué zhōng, qiē miàn shì yǔ qū miàn xiāng qiē de píng miàn.
    In geometry, a tangent plane is a plane that touches a curved surface.
  • 切面，。
    Wǒ mǎi le yì bāo qiē miàn, zhǔn bèi zuò tāng miàn.
    I bought a pack of machine-made noodles, planning to make soup noodles.

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.

切qiècut/tangent
面miànsurface/noodles

切 (cut or tangent) and 面 (surface or noodles) combine to mean a cut surface, a section, or cut noodles.

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
刀刀dāoknife
Sound part声符shēngfú
七
七qī切qiè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 切, the 刀 (knife) part is joined to 七, which gives the sound.

Open 切 →

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

面 originally drew a man’s face, with one eye exaggerated; the horizontal stroke was added later.

Open 面 →

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