TongTong
Sign in

打折 (dǎ zhé) — to give a discount; to offer a discount

Definition

A separable verb meaning 'to give a discount' — the store 打 the 折 (offers the reduced price), not the item itself. 降价 means the price drops on its own.

verb
to give a discountto offer a discount
Easily confused

Examples

  • 打折？
    Qǐng wèn zhè ge néng dǎ zhé ma?
    Excuse me, can this be discounted?
  • 打折。
    Nà jiā diàn zhōu mò dǎ zhé.
    That store has a discount on weekends.
  • 打折。
    Xiàn zài mǎi dǎ zhé de dōng xī hěn pián yi.
    Buying discounted items now is very cheap.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

打dǎapply
折zhédiscount

打 is the action of applying, and 折 names the discount.

Characters in this word

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

打 uses 扌, a hand, to show an action done with the hand, and 丁 to give the sound.

Open 打 →

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

  • 屮𣏄𣏄a tree {{zh-m|*木}} cut in half
  • 斤斤jīnaxe

The shape originally showed an axe (斤) cutting a tree in half; in 折 the left part is now written as a hand.

Open 折 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 4HSK 2.0 Level 4Marketing & SalesShopping & Errands

Browse more HSK 4 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.