土路 (tǔ lù) — dirt road; unpaved road

Definition

Examples

  • 土路,。
    Cūn zi hòu miàn yǒu yì tiáo tǔ lù, xià yǔ tiān hěn nán zǒu.
    There is a dirt road behind the village, and it's hard to walk on when it rains.
  • 土路,。
    Tā men kāi chē chuān guò le yí piàn tǔ lù, chē shēn shàng quán shì ní.
    They drove through a stretch of dirt road, and the car body was covered in mud.
  • 土路,。
    Zhè tiáo tǔ lù liǎng biān zhǒng mǎn le shù, fēng jǐng hěn měi.
    This dirt road is lined with trees on both sides, and the scenery is beautiful.

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tǔearth
路lùroad

土 (earth) with 路 (road) gives a road made of dirt.

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
Sound part声符shēngfú
各
各gè路lù
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

路 combines 足, a foot, with 各, which supplies the sound.

Open 路 →

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