城堡 (chéng bǎo) — castle; fortress, fortified town

Definition

noun
castlefortressfortified town
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 城堡
    Zhè zuò chéng bǎo jiàn yú wǔ bǎi nián qián, bǎo cún dé fēi cháng hǎo.
    This castle was built five hundred years ago and is very well preserved.
  • 城堡
    Hái zi men zài tóng huà shū lǐ kàn dào le shén qí de chéng bǎo.
    The children saw a magical castle in the fairy tale book.
  • 城堡
    Gǔ dài ōu zhōu de chéng bǎo dà duō jiàn lì zài yì shǒu nán gōng de wèi zhì shàng.
    Ancient European castles were mostly built in positions that were easy to defend and hard to attack.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

chéngwalled city
bǎofortress

城 is a walled city and 堡 is a fortress; together they mean a castle or fortified town.

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
soil
Sound part声符shēngfú
chéngchéng
Same sound today

城 pairs 土 (soil) with 成 as a sound part, because city walls were originally made of stamped earth.

Open 城 →

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
bǎo
Same sound today

堡 pairs 土 (earth) with 保 (bǎo): 保 gives the sound, and 土 is the meaning part.

Open 堡 →

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