破折号 (pò zhé hào) — dash (punctuation mark —)

Definition

noun
dash (punctuation mark —)

Examples

  • ，破折号。
    Zhōng wén lǐ, pò zhé hào yòng lái biǎo shì huà tí de tū rán zhuǎn biàn.
    In Chinese, a dash is used to indicate a sudden change of topic.
  • 破折号。
    Zhè jù huà xū yào jiā yí gè pò zhé hào cái néng gèng qīng chǔ.
    This sentence needs a dash to be clearer.
  • ，破折号。
    Xiě wén zhāng shí, pò zhé hào bù néng hé dòu hào hùn yòng.
    When writing, a dash should not be mixed with a comma.

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.

破折broken
破pòbreak折zhéfold
联合Side by side
号hàomark

破 and 折 suggest a broken line, together describing the 号 mark.

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
石石shí
Sound part声符shēngfú
皮
皮pí破pò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

破 has 石 (stone) as its meaning part and 皮 as its sound part.

Open 破 →

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

  • 屮𣏄𣏄a tree {{zh-m|*木}} cut in half
  • 斤斤jīnaxe

The shape originally showed an axe (斤) cutting a tree in half; in 折 the left part is now written as a hand.

Open 折 →

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

  • 口口kǒumouth
  • 丂丂kǎoexhaled air; a tiger's cry

The shape 号 comes from 口, a mouth, and 丂, exhaled air or a tiger's cry.

Open 号 →

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