安全玻璃 (ān quán bō lí) — safety glass

Definition

noun
safety glass
Measure word · 块

Examples

  • 安全玻璃。
    Zhè zhǒng ān quán bō lí néng fáng zhǐ suì piàn fēi jiàn.
    This kind of safety glass prevents fragments from splattering.
  • 安全玻璃。
    Qì chē de qián dǎng fēng bō li yòng de shì ān quán bō lí.
    The car's windshield is made of safety glass.
  • 安全玻璃。
    Jiàn zhù gōng dì yāo qiú suǒ yǒu mén chuāng dōu ān zhuāng ān quán bō lí.
    Construction sites require all doors and windows to be fitted with safety glass.

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.

安全safety
安ānsafe全quánwhole
联合Side by side
玻璃glass
玻bō璃lí

'安全' means safety and '玻璃' means glass, so glass made for safety.

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
宀宀mián
Sound part声符shēngfú
女
女nǚ安ān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 安, 宀 sits above a seated 女 on a cushion; 宀 is the meaning part, 女 is the sound part, and the character originally meant sitting at ease.

Open 安 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape puts 入 together with 玉 to show a whole piece of jade, so it means complete or whole.

Open 全 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 玻 →

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
王Written in full as玉yùjade
Sound part声符shēngfú
离
离lí璃
Same sound today

In 璃, the left side 王 is jade, written in full as 玉, and the right side 离 gives the sound lí.

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