棒槌 (bàng chuí) — wooden club (used for beating clothes during wa… | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literally a wooden club for beating laundry clean, but it also means a clueless novice — calling someone 棒槌 is a blunt, colloquial insult (a 'dumb wooden mallet'). Don't confuse it with the slang 木头 (slow-witted person), which is milder.

noun

wooden club (used for beating clothes during washing)(figurative, colloquial) a clueless or incompetent personnovice

Measure word · 根

Examples

棒槌。
Nǎi nai hái bǎo liú zhe nà ge xǐ yī fu yòng de bàng chuí.
Grandma still keeps that wooden club for washing clothes.
，棒槌！
Nǐ lián zhè ge dōu bú huì, zhēn shì gè bàng chuí!
You can't even do this? You're such a greenhorn!
棒槌，。
Bié dāng bàng chuí le, xiān xué xué jī chǔ zhī shi ba.
Stop being a clueless novice; first learn the basics.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

棒 gives club and 槌 gives mallet, together naming a wooden beating club.

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.

木奉棒

Meaning part形符xíngfú

木木mùtree, wood

Sound part声符shēngfú

奉

奉fèng棒bàng

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

棒 combines 木 (wood) with 奉, which gives the sound, to write a wooden club.

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

木追槌

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

追

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

槌 combines 木, a wood form, with 追, which gives the sound.

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