焦炭 (jiāo tàn) — coke (processed coal used in blast furnaces)

Definition

noun

coke (processed coal used in blast furnaces)

Measure word · 块

焦炭。
Gāng tiě chǎng xū yào dà liàng jiāo tàn lái liàn tiě.
Steel plants need large amounts of coke to smelt iron.
焦炭。
Zhè zhǒng jiāo tàn de rán shāo wēn dù hěn gāo.
This type of coke burns at a very high temperature.
焦炭。
Gōng rén men bǎ jiāo tàn yùn jìn gāo lú.
The workers transported the coke into the blast furnace.

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.

炭tàncharcoal

焦 and 炭 combine to mean scorched carbon material used in furnaces.

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

隹隹zhuībird

Sound part声符shēngfú

小

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

The 焦 glyph first paired 隹 (bird) with 小 as a sound part. The 小 part later changed into a fire shape, and the character was then used for scorching.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

岸

岸àn炭tàn

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

炭 combines 火 (fire) with 岸, which provides the sound. The 火 part connects the character to fire or burning material.