援兵 (yuán bīng) — reinforcements (military or emergency aid) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Reinforcements — troops sent to support forces already in combat. A concrete military term (not aid in general); for civilian/emergency help use 救援.

noun

reinforcements (military or emergency aid)

Measure word · 支

Examples

援兵。
Qián xiàn jí xū yuán bīng zhī yuán.
The front line urgently needs reinforcements.
，援兵。
Tā men děng le liǎng tiān, yuán bīng zhōng yú dào le.
They waited two days, and the reinforcements finally arrived.
援兵，。
Méi yǒu yuán bīng, zhè ge zhèn dì shǒu bú zhù.
Without reinforcements, this position cannot be held.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

援 (aid) and 兵 (troops) combine to mean troops sent to aid.

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.

扌爰援

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

爰

爰yuán援yuán

Same sound today

In 援, the left 扌 (written fully as 手) is a hand, and the right 爰 tells you how it sounds.

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

斤斤jīna short axe
廾廾gǒng2 hands

兵 combines 斤, a short axe, with 廾, two hands, showing a pair of hands holding a weapon.

Appears in

Military & Defense

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