台球桌 (tái qiú zhuō) — billiards table

Definition

noun
billiards table
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 台球桌
    Nà jiā tái qiú guǎn lǐ yǒu yì zhāng tái qiú zhuō.
    That billiard hall has a billiards table.
  • 台球桌
    Tā bǎ tái qiú zhuō fàng zài dì xià shì le.
    He placed the billiards table in the basement.
  • 台球桌
    Zhè zhāng tái qiú zhuō de zhì liàng fēi cháng hǎo.
    The quality of this billiards table is very good.

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.

台球billiards
táitableqiúball
偏正Modifier + head

台 and 球 form billiards, and 桌 denotes a table, so the name is a billiards table.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 臺; 台 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 台 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (窗台, 电视台) it is 臺; in others (台灯, 台球) (台风) it is 檯 or 台 or 颱.

The traditional form 臺 is the 喬 + 室 form; earlier versions combined a sound part with 室, and an old reading saw it as a watch tower.

Open 台 →

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
jade
Sound part声符shēngfú
qiúqiú
Same sound today

球 is built from 玉, meaning jade, and 求, which gives the sound.

Open 球 →

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

桌 has 卓 on top, giving the sound and a sense of high, and 木 below, wood; the bottom of 卓 has merged into 木.

Open 桌 →

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