扫黄 (sǎo huáng) — (verb) to crack down on pornography / obscenity… | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A fixed compound meaning an anti-pornography crackdown — both the action ('crack down on porn') and the campaign itself. Literally 'sweep + pornography', a journalism/policy term, not a word learners assemble themselves.

verb

to crack down on pornography / obscenity

noun

anti-pornography campaign / operation

Examples

扫黄。
Jǐng fāng zuì jìn jiā dà le duì sǎo huáng de lì dù.
The police have recently stepped up efforts to crack down on pornography.
，。
Qù nián tā men sǎo le sān cì huáng, zhuā le hěn duō rén.
Last year they conducted three anti-porn operations and arrested many people.
扫黄。
Zhè cì sǎo huáng dé dào le shì mín de zhī chí.
This anti-porn campaign received support from the citizens.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

扫sǎosweep away

黄huángyellow/obscene

扫 suggests sweeping away, and 黄 denotes obscene material, so the word means clearing away pornographic content.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 黃; 黄 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

田田tiánfield

Sound part声符shēngfú

炗

炗guāng黃huáng

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 黃 pairs 田 (field) with 炗 (light), which gives the sound; the simplified 黄 is a shorthand and its parts are not historical components.

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