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大厦 (dà shà) — large building, skyscraper

Definition

noun
large buildingskyscraper
Measure word · 座

Examples

  • 大厦。
    Zhè zuò dà shà shì chéng shì lǐ zuì gāo de jiàn zhù.
    This skyscraper is the tallest building in the city.
  • 大厦。
    Tā de gōng sī zài yí zuò xīn dà shà lǐ.
    His company is in a new skyscraper.
  • 大厦。
    Nà zuò dà shà yǒu wǔ shí bā céng.
    That skyscraper has fifty-eight floors.

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.

大dàlarge
厦shàbuilding

The first character means large and the second means building; together they refer to a grand or tall building.

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 廈; 厦 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
广广guǎng
Sound part声符shēngfú
夏
夏xià廈shà
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional 廈 pairs 广, which contributes the building sense, with 夏, which gives the sound and also means 'great'; the simplified 厦 is a later shorthand.

Open 厦 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5HSK 2.0 Level 6Buildings & Structures5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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