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小镇 (xiǎo zhèn) — small town

Definition

noun
small town
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 小镇。
    Wǒ zhù zài yí gè měi lì de xiǎo zhèn lǐ.
    I live in a beautiful small town.
  • 小镇。
    xiǎo zhèn De jū mín dōu hěn yǒu hǎo.
    The residents of the small town are all very friendly.
  • 小镇。
    Zhè ge xiǎo zhèn yǒu yōu jiǔ de lì shǐ.
    This small town has a long history.

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
镇zhèntown

小 “small” and 镇 “town” combine to mean a small town.

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 鎮; 镇 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
金金jīnmetal
Sound part声符shēngfú
真
真zhēn鎮zhèn
Same sound today

The traditional form 鎮 uses 金, metal, and 真, which gave its sound; it depicted pressing down with a metal weight. The simplified 镇 is a later abbreviation.

Open 镇 →
Appears in
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