手推车 (shǒu tuī chē) — handcart; wheelbarrow; trolley (shopping cart)

Definition

noun
handcartwheelbarrowtrolley (shopping cart)
Measure word · 辆

Examples

  • 手推车。
    Tā yòng shǒu tuī chē bān le hěn duō dōng xī.
    He used a handcart to move a lot of things.
  • 手推车，。
    Zhè ge shǒu tuī chē hěn jiē shi, kě yǐ zhuāng hěn duō huò wù.
    This handcart is very sturdy and can hold a lot of goods.
  • 手推车，。
    Chāo shì mén kǒu yǒu hěn duō shǒu tuī chē, gòng gù kè shǐ yòng.
    There are many shopping carts at the supermarket entrance for customers to use.

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.

手推pushed by hand
手shǒuhand推tuīpush
偏正Modifier + head
车chēvehicle

A 车 is a vehicle, and 手推 says it is pushed by hand.

Characters in this word

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

手 draws a five-fingered human hand: the top line is a bent middle finger, and the horizontal lines show the other four fingers.

Open 手 →

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
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
隹
隹zhuī推tuī
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 扌 is a hand, and the right side 隹 gives the sound; the character shows pushing with the hand.

Open 推 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 車; 车 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 車 was drawn as a carriage seen from above, with wheels on both sides and a shaft at the front; the simplified 车 is a later shorthand.

Open 车 →
Appears in
Vehicles

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