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空袭 (kōng xí) — (noun) air raid; airstrike; (verb) to carry out an air raid; to bomb from the air

Definition

noun
air raidairstrike
verb
to carry out an air raidto bomb from the air
Measure word · 次

Examples

  • 空袭。
    Dí rén duì chéng shì jìn xíng le kōng xí.
    The enemy carried out an air raid on the city.
  • 空袭。
    Nà cì kōng xí zào chéng le hěn duō shāng wáng.
    That air raid caused many casualties.
  • 空袭。
    Dí jī zài líng chén kōng xí le jūn shì jī dì.
    Enemy planes bombed the military base at dawn.

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.

空kōngsky
袭xíraid

空 means sky or air and 袭 means raid, so it is a raid from the air.

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
穴穴xuécave, hole
Sound part声符shēngfú
工
工gōng空kōng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

空 is built from 穴, a cave or hole, and 工, which gives the sound.

Open 空 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 襲; 袭 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
衣衣yīcloth
Sound part声符shēngfú
龖
龖dá襲xí
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 襲, 衣 shows cloth and 龖 gives the sound; the simplified 袭 is a later shorthand, so its visible parts are not the historical components.

Open 袭 →
Appears in
Military & Defense

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