水族箱 (shuǐ zú xiāng) — aquarium (for keeping fish or other aquatic pet…

Definition

noun

aquarium (for keeping fish or other aquatic pets)

Measure word · 个

水族箱。
Wǒ mǎi le yí gè hěn dà de shuǐ zú xiāng.
I bought a very large aquarium.
水族箱。
Zhè ge shuǐ zú xiāng xū yào dìng qī huàn shuǐ.
This aquarium needs regular water changes.
水族箱。
Tā zài shuǐ zú xiāng lǐ yǎng le shí jǐ tiáo rè dài yú.
He keeps over a dozen tropical fish in the aquarium.

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.

水族aquatic animals

偏正Modifier + head

水族 refers to aquatic animals and 箱 is a box; together they name a box for keeping them.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

水 is a simple drawing of water flowing.

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

族 combines 㫃, a flag, and 矢, an arrow.

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

𥫗相箱

Meaning part形符xíngfú

𥫗Written in full as竹zhúbamboo

Sound part声符shēngfú

相

Same sound today

箱 combines 竹, showing bamboo, with 相 as a sound part, to write a bamboo box or case.