篝火 (gōu huǒ) — bonfire; campfire (an outdoor fire for warmth,…

Definition

noun

bonfirecampfire (an outdoor fire for warmth, cooking, or social gatherings)

Measure word · 堆

篝火，。
Wǒ men zài hǎi tān shàng diǎn qǐ le gōu huǒ, dà jiā wéi zuò zài yì qǐ chàng gē.
We lit a campfire on the beach, and everyone sat around it singing.
篝火。
gōu huǒ De huǒ guāng yìng hóng le měi gè rén de liǎn.
The firelight of the bonfire reddened everyone's face.
篝火。
Tā men wéi zhe gōu huǒ tiào qǐ le wǔ.
They started dancing around the campfire.

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.

篝gōubamboo basket

篝 was a bamboo basket and 火 is fire, giving a basket fire.

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.

竹冓篝

Meaning part形符xíngfú

竹竹zhúbamboo

Sound part声符shēngfú

冓

冓gòu篝gōu

Same sound today

篝 combines 竹, meaning bamboo, with 冓, which gives the sound.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

火 is a simple drawing of a fire, with flames shown rising upward.

Appears in