扫雷 (sǎo léi) — to sweep mines (military mine clearance); Mines…

Definition

A separable verb: 扫 + 雷, meaning to clear mines (military) or, informally, to play the computer game Minesweeper.

verb

to sweep mines (military mine clearance)Minesweeper (the computer game)

Easily confused

扫雷。
Gōng bīng zhèng zài qián xiàn sǎo léi.
The engineers are sweeping mines at the front line.
扫雷。
Wǒ xiǎo shí hou zuì xǐ huan wán sǎo léi.
When I was little, I loved playing Minesweeper the most.
。
Tā men jīn tiān sǎo le sān cì léi.
They swept mines three times today.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

扫sǎosweep/clear

扫 means sweep or clear, and 雷 means mines; together they describe clearing mines from a field.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 掃; 扫 is its simplified writing.

The form 掃 draws a hand with a broomstick, the thing used for sweeping.

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

雨雨yǔrain

Sound part声符shēngfú

畾

畾léi雷léi

Same sound today

The top 雨 (rain) points to the meaning, and the bottom 畾 gives the sound.