探雷 (tàn léi) — to detect mines; to locate land mines or sea mines

Definition

Specialized military term: the act of locating or detecting land or sea mines, usually with special equipment (工兵/扫雷器). It is not general 'searching' — use 搜索 or 寻找 for everyday lookups.

verb
to detect minesto locate land mines or sea mines

Examples

  • 探雷。
    Gōng bīng zhèng zài yòng yí qì tàn léi.
    The engineers are using instruments to detect mines.
  • ，。
    Tā men zài zhè piàn qū yù tàn guò léi, méi yǒu fā xiàn wēi xiǎn.
    They have detected mines in this area and found no danger.
  • ，。
    Jīn tiān shàng wǔ wǒ men tàn le liǎng cì léi, rèn wu yǐ jīng wán chéng.
    This morning we detected mines twice, and the mission is already complete.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

探tàndetect
雷léimines

探 means to detect, and 雷 names the mines being located.

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

In 探, the 扌 part is a hand, and 𥥍 gives the sound.

Open 探 →

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.

Open 雷 →

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