焦痕 (jiāo hén) — scorch mark, burn mark

Definition

noun

scorch markburn mark

Measure word · 个

焦痕。
Huǒ zāi hòu qiáng shàng liú xià le míng xiǎn de jiāo hén.
After the fire, obvious scorch marks were left on the wall.
焦痕。
Jǐng fāng zài jiāo hén zhōng fā xiàn le zòng huǒ zhèng jù.
The police found arson evidence in the burn marks.
焦痕。
Zhè kuài mù tou shàng de jiāo hén shuō míng céng jīng fā shēng guò huǒ zāi.
The burn marks on this piece of wood indicate that a fire once happened.

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.

A burnt mark is the trace left by scorching.

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.

疒艮痕

Meaning part形符xíngfú

疒疒nè

Sound part声符shēngfú

艮

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

痕 pairs 疒 with 艮: 疒 gives the sense, and 艮 gives the sound.