大坝 (dà bà) — dam | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

dam

Measure word · 座

Examples

大坝。
Xiū jiàn zhè zuò dà bà yòng le wǔ nián de shí jiān.
It took five years to build this dam.
大坝，。
dà bà Kě yǐ fáng zhǐ hóng shuǐ, bǎo hù xià yóu de cūn zhuāng.
The dam can prevent floods and protect downstream villages.
大坝。
dà bà Fā diàn néng tí gōng dà liàng de qīng jié néng yuán.
The dam's hydroelectricity can provide a large amount of clean energy.

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 (large) describes 坝 (dam), a large barrier across water.

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.

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 壩; 坝 is its simplified writing.

土霸壩

Meaning part形符xíngfú

土土tǔearth

Sound part声符shēngfú

霸

霸bà壩bà

Same sound today

The traditional form 壩 has 土, earth, and 霸 as its sound; the simplified 坝 is a shorthand, and its right side is not the historical component.

Appears in

Buildings & Structures

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