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小贩 (xiǎo fàn) — peddler; street vendor; hawker

Definition

noun
peddlerstreet vendorhawker
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 小贩。
    Lù biān yǒu hěn duō xiǎo fàn zài mài shuǐ guǒ hé shū cài.
    There are many vendors selling fruit and vegetables by the roadside.
  • 小贩。
    Nà ge xiǎo fàn měi tiān xià wǔ dōu huì lái zhè lǐ bǎi tān.
    That peddler comes here every afternoon to set up his stall.
  • 小贩。
    Zhèng fǔ zhèng zài guī fàn xiǎo fàn de jīng yíng xíng wéi.
    The government is regulating the business practices of street vendors.

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
贩fànvendor

小 means small and 贩 means someone who sells goods, so the word names a small-scale street vendor.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 販; 贩 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèicowry
Sound part声符shēngfú
反
反fǎn販fàn
Same sound today

The traditional form 販 combines 貝, a cowry shell, with 反 as a sound part; the simplified 贩 is a shorthand and its right side is not a historical component.

Open 贩 →
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