搜身 (sōu shēn) — to body search someone, to frisk | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A verb meaning 'to body-search / frisk' someone. 搜 acts as a verb taking the person's body as object — 比 checking bags or luggage; it refers specifically to a physical search of a person.

verb

to body search someoneto frisk

Examples

，搜身。
Shàng fēi jī qián, lǚ kè dōu yào jiē shòu sōu shēn.
Before boarding the plane, all passengers must undergo a body search.
。
Jǐng chá sōu le tā de shēn.
The police searched his body.
。
Tā cóng lái méi bèi sōu guò shēn.
He has never been frisked.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

搜 means to search and 身 is the body, so the word means to search someone's body.

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.

扌叟搜

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

叟

叟sǒu搜sōu

Same sound today

The left 扌 is a hand. The right 叟 gives the sound and originally pictured a hand holding a torch indoors, related to searching.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 身 comes from a drawing of a pregnant woman.

Appears in

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