旋梯 (xuán tī) — spiral staircase

Definition

noun
spiral staircase
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 旋梯。
    Zhè zuò lóu yǒu yì xuán tī.
    This building has a spiral staircase.
  • 旋梯。
    Zǒu xuán tī de shí hou yào xiǎo xīn.
    Be careful when walking on the spiral staircase.
  • 旋梯。
    Tā men cóng xuán tī xià le lóu.
    They went downstairs via the spiral staircase.

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.

旋xuánspiral
梯tīstairs

旋 means spiral or revolving and 梯 means stairs, so 旋梯 is a spiral staircase.

Characters in this word

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

  • 㫃㫃㫃flag
  • 止止zhǐfoot
  • 〇〇língcircle

旋 combines 㫃 (a flag), 止 (a foot), and 〇 (a circle), and 〇 also gave the sound.

Open 旋 →

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mùwood, tree
Sound part声符shēngfú
弟
弟dì梯tī
Same sound today

梯 puts 木 (wood/tree) beside 弟, which gives the sound, to write a wooden ladder.

Open 梯 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.