北侧 (běi cè) — north side; north face (of a mountain, building, etc.)

Definition

noun
north sidenorth face (of a mountain, building, etc.)

Examples

  • 北侧。
    Zhè zuò shān de běi cè fēi cháng dǒu qiào.
    The north face of this mountain is very steep.
  • 北侧。
    Dà lóu de běi cè yǒu yí gè xiǎo huā yuán.
    There is a small garden on the north side of the building.
  • 北侧。
    Tā men zhù zài jiē dào de běi cè.
    They live on the north side of the street.

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.

北běinorth
侧cèside

北 (north) and 侧 (side) combine to mean the north side.

Characters in this word

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

The form 北 shows two people standing back to back. It originally meant 'back'.

Open 北 →

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 側; 侧 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
則
則zé側cè
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 側 has 亻, a person, and uses 則 to show its sound. The simplified 侧 is a later shorthand.

Open 侧 →

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