油门 (yóu mén) — throttle; accelerator (colloquial) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

throttleaccelerator (colloquial)

Measure word · 个

Examples

油门，。
Qǐng cǎi yóu mén, chē jiù wǎng qián zǒu le.
Please step on the accelerator, and the car will go forward.
油门，。
Tā qīng qīng yì cǎi yóu mén, mó tuō chē jiù chōng le chū qù.
He lightly pressed the throttle, and the motorcycle shot out.
油门。
Kāi chē shí bú yào bǎ yóu mén cǎi dào dǐ.
Don't floor the accelerator when driving.

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.

门méngate or valve

油, oil, joins with 门, a gate or valve, to mean the accelerator.

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.

氵由油

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

由

由yóu油yóu

Same sound today

油 is built from 氵, a water part, and 由, which supplies the sound.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 門; 门 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 門 pictures a gate as two door shapes side by side; the simplified 门 is a later shorthand.

Appears in

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