山洞 (shān dòng) — cave

Definition

noun
cave
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 山洞
    Tā men fā xiàn le yí gè hěn dà de shān dòng.
    They discovered a very big cave.
  • 山洞
    Zhè ge shān dòng lǐ hěn hēi, yào dài shǒu diàn tǒng.
    It's very dark in this cave; you need to bring a flashlight.
  • 山洞
    Kǎo gǔ xué jiā zài zhè ge shān dòng lǐ zhǎo dào le gǔ dài bì huà.
    Archaeologists found ancient murals in this cave.

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.

shānmountain

山 mountain + 洞 cave gives a cave in a mountain.

Characters in this word

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

山 shows three mountain peaks side by side.

Open 山 →

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
shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
tóngdòng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

洞 combines 水 (water) with 同, which gives the sound tóng.

Open 洞 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.