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大洞 (dà dòng) — (place name) Big Cave; Great Cave (likely a specific location)

Definition

大洞 (Dà Dòng) is a proper place name — 'Big Cave / Great Cave' — referring to a specific scenic cave site, not the common noun 'big hole' (which would be written 大洞 but spoken as two separate words).

noun
(place name) Big CaveGreat Cave (likely a specific location)

Examples

  • 大洞。
    Míng nián wǒ men dǎ suàn qù dà dòng lǚ yóu.
    Next year we plan to travel to Big Cave.
  • 大洞。
    dà dòng Shì yí gè hěn yǒu míng de fēng jǐng qū.
    Big Cave is a very famous scenic area.
  • 大洞。
    Tā zhù zài dà dòng fù jìn.
    He lives near Big Cave.

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dàbig
洞dònghole or cave

大 means big and 洞 means hole or cave, so it names a large cave.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
水水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
同
同tóng洞dòng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

洞 combines 水 (water) with 同, which gives the sound tóng.

Open 洞 →
Appears in
Geography & Landforms

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