城中 (chéng zhōng) — inside the city, within the city

Definition

noun
inside the citywithin the city

Examples

  • 城中。
    Zhè jiā shū diàn zài chéng zhōng hěn yǒu míng.
    This bookstore is very famous in the city.
  • 城中。
    chéng zhōng Yǒu hěn duō gāo lóu dà shà.
    There are many skyscrapers in the city.
  • 城中。
    Tā měi tiān cóng jiāo qū kāi chē dào chéng zhōng shàng bān.
    He drives from the suburbs to the city to work every day.

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.

城chéngcity
中zhōnginside

It names the inside of a city, with 城 specifying the city and 中 the interior.

Characters in this word

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
土土tǔsoil
Sound part声符shēngfú
成
成chéng城chéng
Same sound today

城 pairs 土 (soil) with 成 as a sound part, because city walls were originally made of stamped earth.

Open 城 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The original picture showed a flagpole with a drum in the middle, set up in the center of a field.

Open 中 →

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