城门 (chéng mén) — city gate | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

city gate

Measure word · 座

Examples

城门，。
Gǔ dài de chéng shì dōu yǒu chéng mén, yòng lái bǎo hù jū mín.
Ancient cities all had city gates to protect the residents.
城门，。
Běi jīng de chéng mén hěn yǒu míng, hěn duō yóu kè huì qù pāi zhào.
Beijing's city gates are very famous, and many tourists go to take photos.
城门，。
Zǒu guò zhè zuò chéng mén, nǐ jiù jìn rù gǔ zhèn le.
Walk through this city gate and you'll enter the ancient town.

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 says what kind of 门: a gate in a city wall.

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.

土成城

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城 pairs 土 (soil) with 成 as a sound part, because city walls were originally made of stamped earth.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 門; 门 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 門 pictures a gate as two door shapes side by side; the simplified 门 is a later shorthand.

Appears in

Buildings & Structures

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