活塞 (huó sāi) — piston

Definition

noun
piston
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 活塞
    Qì chē fā dòng jī de huó sāi xū yào dìng qī jiǎn chá.
    The piston of a car engine needs regular inspection.
  • 活塞
    Zhè ge huó sāi yǐ jīng mó sǔn le, xū yào gēng huàn.
    This piston is already worn out and needs to be replaced.
  • 活塞
    huó sāi Zài qì gāng nèi shàng xià yùn dòng, chǎn shēng dòng lì.
    The piston moves up and down inside the cylinder, generating power.

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.

huómoving

活 (moving) and 塞 (plug) combine to mean piston.

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
Written in full asshuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠯑
𠯑𠯑huó
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

活 is built from 氵 (water) and 𠯑, which shows the sound; 𠯑 later changed into 舌.

Open 活 →

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

  • miánhouse
  • gōngtwo items
  • gǒngtwo hands

塞 combines 宀 (house), 工 (two items), and 廾 (two hands), showing hands stuffing items into a house.

Open 塞 →

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