机票 (jī piào) — plane ticket, air ticket

Definition

机票 is an air ticket specifically — 票 alone is the generic 'ticket', while 门票 is an admission/entrance ticket (for a show, park, cinema).

noun
plane ticketair ticket
Measure word · 张

Examples

  • 机票。
    Wǒ mǎi le liǎng zhāng jī piào.
    I bought two plane tickets.
  • 机票？
    Nǐ de jī piào hěn guì ma?
    Is your plane ticket very expensive?
  • 机票。
    Qǐng gěi wǒ kàn nǐ de jī piào.
    Please show me your plane ticket.

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.

机jīaircraft
票piàoticket

The ticket 票 is for 机, the aircraft.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
木木mùtree; wood
Sound part声符shēngfú
几
几jǐ机jī
Same sound today

The left part is 木 (tree; wood), and the right part 几 gives the sound.

Open 机 →

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

  • 火火huǒfire
  • 𢍱𢍱𢍱to rise high

票 combines 火 (fire) and 𢍱 (to rise high), originally representing sparks rising up.

Open 票 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 2Air Travel5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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