暂停 (zàn tíng) — to pause, to suspend (a video, game, activity,… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Means to pause or suspend an ongoing activity (video, game, meeting) with the intent to resume. Unlike 停顿 (a brief break, often in speech) or 停业 (closing a business), 暂停 is temporary and the action is expected to continue.

verb

to pauseto suspend (a video, game, activity, etc.)

Examples

暂停。
Qǐng àn zhè lǐ zàn tíng shì pín.
Please press here to pause the video.
，暂停。
Yīn wèi xià yǔ, bǐ sài zàn tíng le.
The game was suspended because of rain.
暂停，。
Tā men jué dìng zàn tíng huì yì, míng tiān zài kāi.
They decided to suspend the meeting and continue tomorrow.

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.

暂zàntemporarily

暂 “temporarily” plus 停 “stop” gives the sense of stopping briefly.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 暫; 暂 is its simplified writing.

斬日暫

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

斬

斬zhǎn暫zàn

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 暫 has 日 (day) for the meaning and 斬 (zhǎn) for the sound; the simplified 暂 is a later shorthand.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

亻亭停

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rén

Sound part声符shēngfú

亭

亭tíng停tíng

Same sound today

The left side 亻 is a person, and the right side 亭 gives the sound tíng; this forms 停.

Appears in

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