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打通 (dǎ tōng) — to get through (on the phone); to open up / clear (a path, blockage, or channel)

Definition

A resultative verb: 打通 = get through / open up by completing an action (打通电话 'get through on the phone', 打通隧道 'bore through a tunnel'). The result complements holds — 打通, 打得通, 打不通.

verb
to get through (on the phone)to open up / clear (a path, blockage, or channel)

Examples

  • 打通。
    Wǒ dǎ le jǐ cì diàn huà dōu méi dǎ tōng.
    I called several times but never got through.
  • 打通。
    Shī gōng duì zhōng yú dǎ tōng le zhè tiáo suì dào.
    The construction team finally opened up this tunnel.
  • ？
    Yòng zhè ge hào mǎ dǎ dé tōng ma?
    Can you get through with this number?

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

打dǎstrike/make
通tōngthrough/open

打 suggests making an action, and 通 means through; together they mean making a way or call go through.

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 →

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
辶Written in full as辵chuò
Sound part声符shēngfú
甬
甬yǒng通tōng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

通 pairs 辶, a part associated with movement, with 甬, which gives the sound.

Open 通 →
Appears in
Phones & Telecom

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