玻璃球 (bō li qiú) — glass beads; glass marbles

Definition

noun
glass beadsglass marbles
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 玻璃球
    Tā dài le yí chuàn bō li qiú zuò de shǒu liàn.
    She wore a bracelet made of glass beads.
  • 玻璃球
    Hái zi men zài yuàn zi lǐ wán bō li qiú, kàn shuí tán dé zuì yuǎn.
    The children played marbles in the yard, seeing who could shoot the farthest.
  • 玻璃球
    Zhè xiē bō li qiú zài yáng guāng xià shǎn shǎn fā guāng.
    These glass beads sparkle in the sunlight.

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.

玻璃glass

“玻璃” names the material, and “球” gives the shape of a small round object.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 玻 →

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 asjade
Sound part声符shēngfú
Same sound today

In 璃, the left side 王 is jade, written in full as 玉, and the right side 离 gives the sound lí.

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
jade
Sound part声符shēngfú
qiúqiú
Same sound today

球 is built from 玉, meaning jade, and 求, which gives the sound.

Open 球 →

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