山脚 (shān jiǎo) — foot of a mountain; base of a hill

Definition

noun

foot of a mountainbase of a hill

山脚。
Cūn zi jiù zài nà zuò shān de shān jiǎo.
The village is right at the foot of that mountain.
山脚。
Tā men cóng shān jiǎo kāi shǐ wǎng shàng pá.
They started climbing up from the foot of the mountain.
山脚，。
shān jiǎo Yǒu yì tiáo xiǎo xī, shuǐ hěn qīng chè.
There is a small stream at the foot of the mountain, and the water is very clear.

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.

The 山 (mountain) and 脚 (foot) together name the lower part where the slope meets the ground.

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.

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 腳; 脚 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

⺼Written in full as肉ròumeat, body

Sound part声符shēngfú

卻

卻què腳jiǎo

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 腳 uses ⺼ for a body part and 卻 for the sound; the simplified 脚 is a later shorthand.

Appears in