垃圾堆 (lā jī duī) — garbage heap, trash pile, dump

Definition

noun
garbage heaptrash piledump
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 垃圾堆
    Zhè ge lā jī duī lǐ yǒu hěn duō bào zhǐ hé sù liào píng.
    This garbage heap has a lot of newspapers and plastic bottles.
  • 垃圾堆
    Chéng shì lǐ de lā jī duī xū yào měi tiān qīng lǐ.
    The garbage piles in the city need to be cleaned every day.
  • 垃圾堆
    Bú yào bǎ shí wù rēng jìn lā jī duī, huì yǐn lái lǎo shǔ.
    Don't throw food into the trash pile; it will attract rats.

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.

垃圾garbage

垃圾 names waste, and 堆 is a heap, so the whole is a pile of waste.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 垃 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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
earth
Sound part声符shēngfú
zhuīduī
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

堆 is built from 土 (earth) and 隹, which supplies the sound.

Open 堆 →

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