小推车 (xiǎo tuī chē) — small push cart, handcart

Definition

noun
small push carthandcart
Measure word · 辆

Examples

  • 小推车。
    Tā bǎ zhuāng mǎn huò wù de xiǎo tuī chē tuī jìn le cāng kù.
    He pushed a small cart full of goods into the warehouse.
  • 小推车。
    Nǐ yòng zhè ge xiǎo tuī chē bān xíng li ba.
    You can use this small cart to move luggage.
  • 小推车。
    Chāo shì lǐ yǒu hěn duō xiǎo tuī chē gòng gù kè shǐ yòng.
    There are many small push carts in the supermarket for customers to use.

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.

小xiǎosmall
推车push cart
推tuīpush车chēcart
动宾Verb + object

The small '小' marks compact size, and '推车' is a cart pushed by hand, giving a small handcart.

Characters in this word

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

  • 八八bāto divide; to separate
  • 丨丨gǔnsmall object

The shape of 小 comes from three small dots, later elongated into its strokes; the apparent parts 八 and 丨 are a later way of seeing it.

Open 小 →

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
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
隹
隹zhuī推tuī
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 扌 is a hand, and the right side 隹 gives the sound; the character shows pushing with the hand.

Open 推 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 車; 车 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 車 was drawn as a carriage seen from above, with wheels on both sides and a shaft at the front; the simplified 车 is a later shorthand.

Open 车 →

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