土匪 (tǔ fěi) — bandit; brigand

Definition

noun
banditbrigand
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 土匪。
    Nà ge cūn zi bèi tǔ fěi xí jī le.
    That village was attacked by bandits.
  • 土匪,。
    Tā nián qīng shí dāng guò tǔ fěi, hòu lái xǐ shǒu bú gàn le.
    He used to be a bandit when he was young, but later he quit for good.
  • 土匪。
    Zhè bù xiǎo shuō jiǎng de shì tǔ fěi de gù shi.
    This novel tells the story of bandits.

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.

土tǔlocal
匪fěibandit

土 (local) and 匪 (bandit) combine: a bandit from the area.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 土 →

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
匚匚fāngbox
Sound part声符shēngfú
非
非fēi匪fěi
Same sound today

匪 is built from 匚, a box, plus 非, which gives the sound.

Open 匪 →
Appears in

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