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开瓶器 (kāi píng qì) — bottle opener

Definition

noun
bottle opener
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 开瓶器？
    Nǐ néng bāng wǒ bǎ zhè ge píng zi yòng kāi píng qì dǎ kāi ma?
    Can you help me open this bottle with the opener?
  • 开瓶器，。
    Zhè ge kāi píng qì bú tài hǎo yòng, róng yì dǎ huá.
    This bottle opener is not very easy to use; it slips easily.
  • 开瓶器。
    Yě cān shí bié wàng le dài yí gè kāi píng qì.
    Don't forget to bring a bottle opener when you go on a picnic.

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.

开瓶open bottles
开kāiopen瓶píngbottle
动宾Verb + object
器qìtool

The idea of 开瓶, opening bottles, combines with 器, a tool, to name a bottle opener.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 開; 开 is its simplified writing.

  • 門門méndoor
  • 一一yīlatch and/or wooden pole that shuts a door
  • 廾廾gǒnga pair of hands

The traditional form 開 shows 廾, a pair of hands, and 一, a latch or pole, inside 門, a door: hands opening a latched door. The simplified 开 is a shorthand form, so its parts are not the original pieces.

Open 开 →

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
瓦瓦wǎearthenware
Sound part声符shēngfú
并
并bìng瓶píng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

瓶 uses 瓦 to show an earthenware vessel and 并 for the sound. The original vessel had a long slender neck and narrow mouth.

Open 瓶 →

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

The origin of 器 is uncertain; one traditional account reads the whole shape as a scene of guarding over four vessels.

Open 器 →
Appears in
Kitchenware & Tableware

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