扩音器 (kuò yīn qì) — megaphone; audio amplifier

Definition

noun

megaphoneaudio amplifier

Measure word · 个

扩音器。
Tā yòng kuò yīn qì duì dà jiā shuō huà.
He used a megaphone to speak to everyone.
扩音器。
Zhè ge kuò yīn qì de shēng yīn hěn dà.
This audio amplifier has a very loud sound.
扩音器。
Wǒ mǎi le yí gè xīn de kuò yīn qì.
I bought a new megaphone.

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.

扩音expand sound

动宾Verb + object

扩音 means expanding sound, and 器 names a device for doing that.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 擴; 扩 is its simplified writing.

扌廣擴

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

廣

廣guǎng擴kuò

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

The traditional form 擴 combines 扌 (hand) and 廣 (guǎng) to show stretching or enlarging with hands. The simplified 扩 is not the form described here.

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

音 adds a short stroke that seals the mouth-like part, showing a covered or muffled sound rather than speech.

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.

Appears in