授粉 (shòu fěn) — to pollinate (in agriculture/botany)

Definition

A technical agriculture/botany verb meaning to pollinate — transferring pollen to a plant's flower, done naturally by insects/wind or artificially by hand.

verb
to pollinate (in agriculture/botany)

Examples

  • Nóng mín gěi guǒ shù shòu le yí cì fěn.
    The farmer pollinated the fruit trees once.
  • 授粉
    Mì fēng kě yǐ bāng zhù huā duǒ shòu fěn.
    Bees can help pollinate flowers.
  • 授粉
    Rén gōng shòu fěn kě yǐ tí gāo nóng zuò wù de chǎn liàng.
    Artificial pollination can increase crop yields.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

shòutransfer
fěnpollen

授 means to give or transfer and 粉 here means pollen, so the sense is passing pollen to plants.

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
shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
shòushòu
Same sound today

授 is built from 手 and 受. 受 gives the sound, and 手 is a hand.

Open 授 →

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
rice
Sound part声符shēngfú
fēnfěn
Same sound today

粉 pairs 米 (rice) with 分 for its sound. The rice part points to face powder made from rice.

Open 粉 →

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