商场 (shāng chǎng) — shopping mall, shopping center, department store; the business world (figurative)

Definition

A large, multi-store shopping mall. 商店 is any small shop or store; 市场 is a marketplace (often outdoors) or an abstract market (job/financial).

noun
shopping mallshopping centerdepartment storethe business world (figurative)
Measure word · 家

Examples

  • 商场。
    Wǒ zài zhè jiā shāng chǎng mǎi le liǎng jiàn yī fu.
    I bought two pieces of clothing at this mall.
  • 商场。
    Zhè jiā shāng chǎng fù jìn yǒu yí gè yín háng.
    There is a bank near this mall.
  • 商场。
    Zhōu mò hěn duō rén qù shāng chǎng.
    Many people go to the mall on weekends.

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.

商shāngcommerce
场chǎngplace

商 (commerce) plus 场 (place) gives a place for shopping.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 商 →

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 場; 场 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
土土tǔearth
Sound part声符shēngfú
昜
昜yáng場chǎng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 場 pairs 土 (earth) with 昜 as a sound part; the simplified 场 is a later abbreviation, so its parts do not have that historical role.

Open 场 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 2Business & CommerceShopping & Errands5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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