暖气 (nuǎn qì) — central heating; heater; warm air | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

central heatingheaterwarm air

Measure word · 个

Examples

，暖气。
Dōng tiān lái le, nuǎn qì hěn nuǎn huo.
Winter has come, and the heating is very warm.
暖气。
Qǐng bǎ nuǎn qì kāi dà yì diǎn.
Please turn up the heating a bit.
暖气。
Zhè ge fáng jiān de nuǎn qì huài le.
The heating in this room is broken.

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.

Warm describes the air in 暖气, giving the sense of heated air or a heating system.

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.

日爰暖

Meaning part形符xíngfú

日日rìsun

Sound part声符shēngfú

爰

爰yuán暖nuǎn

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

暖 is made from 日, the sun, and 爰, which is used for its sound.

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 氣; 气 is its simplified writing.

气米氣

Meaning part形符xíngfú

米米mǐrice

Sound part声符shēngfú

气

气qì氣qì

Same sound today

The traditional form 氣 pairs 米 (rice) with 气, which supplies the sound; the simplified 气 is a later abbreviation.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6 Home & Housing

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