工作台 (gōng zuò tái) — workbench, workstation

Definition

noun

workbenchworkstation

Measure word · 个

工作台。
Wǒ zài shí yàn shì de gōng zuò tái shàng zuò shí yàn.
I do experiments on the workbench in the lab.
工作台。
Zhè ge gōng zuò tái kě yǐ tiáo jié gāo dù.
This workbench can adjust its height.
工作台。
Tā mǎi le yí gè xīn de diàn nǎo gōng zuò tái.
He bought a new computer workstation.

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.

工作work

联合Coordinate

台táiplatform

工 and 作 both give work, and 台 gives platform or table.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 工 is a picture of a bladed tool used to plow ground or mark a border; some read it as a carpenter's square.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

亻乍作

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

乍

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

The left side 亻 comes from 人, meaning 'person', and the right side 乍 gives the sound.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 臺; 台 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 台 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (窗台, 电视台) it is 臺; in others (台灯, 台球) (台风) it is 檯 or 台 or 颱.

The traditional form 臺 is the 喬 + 室 form; earlier versions combined a sound part with 室, and an old reading saw it as a watch tower.

Appears in