抬杠 (tái gāng) — to argue (often unnecessarily and over trivial matters); to bicker

Definition

抬杠 (tái gàng) means 'to bicker' — picking fights over small or pointless things. Used colloquially for unnecessary arguing.

verb
to argue (often unnecessarily and over trivial matters)to bicker

Examples

  • 抬杠。
    Tā men liǎ yòu wèi zhè diǎn xiǎo shì tái gāng le.
    The two of them are bickering over this little thing again.
  • ？。
    Nǐ gēn tā tái shén me gàng? gè tuì yí bù jiù hǎo le.
    Why are you arguing with him? Just both take a step back.
  • ，。
    Gāng cái wǒ men tái le yí huì r gàng, xiàn zài méi shì le.
    We just argued for a while; now it's fine.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

抬táicarry/lift
杠gàngpole/bar

抬杠 originally pictures 抬 carrying a 杠 pole, and now describes bickering.

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
台
台tái抬tái
Same sound today

In 抬, the 扌 part relates to the hand, and 台 gives the sound.

Open 抬 →

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
木木mùtree
Sound part声符shēngfú
工
工gōng杠gàng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

杠 has 木 (tree) on the left and 工 on the right. The 木 part is about wood, and 工 gives the sound.

Open 杠 →

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