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燃料 (rán liào) — fuel

Definition

General word for 'fuel' — covers any combustible material. 燃油 is specifically petroleum-based fuel for engines; 燃气 is gas (natural, coal, methane) used as fuel.

noun
fuel
Measure word · 种

Examples

  • 燃料。
    Qì chē xū yào rán liào cái néng pǎo.
    Cars need fuel to run.
  • 燃料。
    Zhè zhǒng rán liào rán shāo hòu duì kōng qì wū rǎn hěn xiǎo.
    This type of fuel produces very little air pollution after burning.
  • 燃料。
    Dōng tiān de qǔ nuǎn rán liào yòng wán le.
    The heating fuel for winter has run out.

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.

燃ránburn
料liàomaterial

燃 burn and 料 material combine to mean material that burns.

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
火火huǒfire
Sound part声符shēngfú
然
然rán燃rán
Same sound today

燃 adds 火 (fire) to 然 to write “burn”; 然 supplied the sound, and 火 was added to make the fire meaning clear.

Open 燃 →

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

料 combines 米 (rice) with 斗 (a dipper), showing rice being measured or gauged.

Open 料 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6Energy & Power

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