校园 (xiào yuán) — campus

Definition

校园 (xiàoyuán) refers to the physical grounds of a school — the buildings, grounds, and paths. Unlike 学校 (the institution itself) or 大学 (a university), it means the place you walk around in.

noun
campus
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 校园。
    Wǒ men xiào yuán lǐ yǒu hěn duō shù.
    There are many trees on our campus.
  • 。
    Wǒ xǐ huan zài xiào yuán lǐ sàn bù.
    I like to take a walk on campus.
  • 校园。
    xiào yuán Lǐ yǒu yí gè tú shū guǎn.
    There is a library on campus.

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.

校xiàoschool
园yuángarden

校 means school, 园 means garden or grounds; together they name school grounds.

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
Sound part声符shēngfú
交
交jiāo校jiào
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

校 is built from 木 (tree) on the left and 交 on the right, which supplies the sound.

Open 校 →

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
囗囗wéi
Sound part声符shēngfú
元
元yuán园yuán
Same sound today

In 园, 元 sits inside 囗, and 元 gives the sound.

Open 园 →
Appears in
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