彪形大汉 (biāo xíng dà hàn) — big, burly man; husky fellow | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A set phrase for a big, burly, intimidating man — more vivid and literary than 男人, with a sense of physical power and presence.

noun

bigburly manhusky fellow

Measure word · 个

Examples

，彪形大汉。
Tā shēn cái gāo dà, zhēn shì yí gè biāo xíng dà hàn.
He is tall and big, truly a burly fellow.
彪形大汉，。
Mén kǒu zhàn zhe yí gè biāo xíng dà hàn, kàn qǐ lái hěn xià rén.
A big burly man stood at the door, looking very intimidating.
彪形大汉。
Diàn yǐng lǐ de biāo xíng dà hàn yì quán jiù bǎ huài rén dǎ dǎo le.
The burly man in the movie knocked down the bad guy with one punch.

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.

彪形tiger-like form

彪biāotiger-like形xíngform

偏正Modifier + head

大汉big man

大dàbig汉hànman

偏正Modifier + head

The tiger-like form in “彪形” and the big man in “大汉” combine to describe a burly fellow.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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

彡彡shān

Sound part声符shēngfú

井

井jǐng形xíng

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

形 is made from 彡 and 井, with 井 providing the sound.

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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