消防栓 (xiāo fáng shuān) — fire hydrant

Definition

noun
fire hydrant
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 消防栓。
    Jiē jiǎo yǒu yí gè hóng sè de xiāo fáng shuān.
    There is a red fire hydrant on the street corner.
  • 消防栓。
    Xiāo fáng yuán jiē shàng xiāo fáng shuān kāi shǐ miè huǒ.
    The firefighters connected to the hydrant and began putting out the fire.
  • 消防栓。
    Qǐng wù zài xiāo fáng shuān fù jìn tíng chē.
    Please do not park near the fire hydrant.

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.

消防fire-fighting
消xiāoextinguish防fángprevent
联合Side by side
栓shuānplug

消 'extinguish' and 防 'prevent' make fire-fighting, which with 栓 'plug' gives a hydrant.

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
肖
肖xiào消xiāo
Same sound today

消 has 氵 (water) beside 肖. The water part connects to putting out or making something vanish, and 肖 gives the sound.

Open 消 →

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
阝Written in full as阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
方
方fāng防fáng
Same sound today

防 pairs 阝 (written fully as 阜) with 方, which gives the sound.

Open 防 →

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mùwood
Sound part声符shēngfú
全
全quán栓shuān
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

栓 pairs 木 (wood) with 全 as a sound part; the source describes it as a wooden peg.

Open 栓 →
Appears in
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