原油 (yuán yóu) — crude oil | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

crude oil

Examples

原油。
Zhè ge guó jiā chū kǒu dà liàng yuán yóu.
This country exports large quantities of crude oil.
原油。
yuán yóu De jià gé zuì jìn shàng zhǎng le hěn duō.
The price of crude oil has risen a lot recently.
原油。
Liàn yóu chǎng bǎ yuán yóu jiā gōng chéng qì yóu.
The refinery processes crude oil into gasoline.

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.

原yuánoriginal; raw

原 means original or raw and 油 means oil, so the word denotes raw oil.

Characters in this word

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

泉泉quánspring
厂厂chǎngcliff

原 combines 泉 (spring) and 厂 (cliff), picturing a spring bursting from a cliff-side, which gives the sense of origin or source.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

氵由油

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

由

由yóu油yóu

Same sound today

油 is built from 氵, a water part, and 由, which supplies the sound.

Appears in

Energy & Power Materials & Substances

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