男仆 (nán pū) — male servant

Definition

noun
male servant
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 男仆
    Zhè ge nán pū fēi cháng qín láo, měi tiān zǎo qǐ dǎ sǎo fáng jiān.
    This male servant is very hardworking; he gets up early every day to clean the rooms.
  • 男仆
    Zhǔ rén duì nán pū hěn kè qi, cóng bú luàn fā pí qi.
    The master is very polite to the male servant and never loses his temper for no reason.
  • 男仆
    Nà shí de nán pū bù jǐn yào gàn huó, hái yào péi zhǔ rén chū mén.
    Male servants back then not only had to work but also had to accompany the master when going 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.

servant

男 gives male and 仆 gives servant, so the word means a male servant.

Characters in this word

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

男 is made from 田, a field, and 力, strength. It shows a man working with strength in a field.

Open 男 →

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
Same sound today

The left side 人 marks the character as related to a person, and the right side 卜 gives its sound.

Open 仆 →

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