商队 (shāng duì) — trade caravan; caravan of merchants

Definition

A 商队 is a group of merchants traveling together with their goods, typically by camel or horse over long desert or trade routes (such as the Silk Road). Pairs with the measure word 支.

noun
trade caravancaravan of merchants
Measure word · 支

Examples

  • 商队。
    Gǔ dài de shāng duì yán zhe sī chóu zhī lù zǒu hěn yuǎn.
    Ancient caravans traveled far along the Silk Road.
  • 商队。
    Zhè ge shāng duì yǒu èr shí pǐ luò tuo hé shí gè rén.
    This caravan has twenty camels and ten people.
  • 商队，。
    Tā men zǔ chéng le yì zhī shāng duì, zhǔn bèi chuān yuè shā mò.
    They formed a caravan and prepared to cross the desert.

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shāngtrade
队duìgroup

商 indicates trade and 队 indicates a group, so 商队 is a group of merchants traveling together.

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 隊; 队 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阜阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
㒸
㒸㒸隊duì
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 隊 has 阜 as the meaning part and 㒸 as the sound part.

Open 队 →

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