小本生意 (xiǎo běn shēng yì) — small business

Definition

noun

small business

小本生意，。
Tā kāi le yì jiā xiǎo běn shēng yì, mài shǒu gōng chǎn pǐn.
He opened a small business selling handmade products.
小本生意。
Hěn duō xiǎo běn shēng yì zài yì qíng qī jiān yù dào le kùn nan.
Many small businesses encountered difficulties during the pandemic.
小本生意。
Zhè jiā xiǎo běn shēng yì yǐ jīng jīng yíng le èr shí nián.
This small business has been operating for twenty years.

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.

小本small capital

偏正Modifier + head

生意business

联合Side by side

小 and 本 give the idea of small capital, while 生 and 意 together denote business.

Characters in this word

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

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.

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

本 adds a stroke at the bottom of a tree shape to mark the roots, giving the sense of foundation or original.

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

生 shows 屮 (a bud) above 一 (the ground), drawing a sprout coming up from the earth.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.