粉刷 (fěn shuā) — to whitewash; to plaster | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

粉刷 (fěn shuā) means to coat a wall or ceiling with paint, whitewash, or plaster. Literal and physical — not figurative 'whitewash' in the sense of covering up a scandal.

verb

to whitewashto plaster

Examples

粉刷。
Gōng rén men zhèng zài fěn shuā qiáng bì.
The workers are whitewashing the walls.
粉刷。
Tā xué huì le rú hé fěn shuā tiān huā bǎn.
He learned how to plaster the ceiling.
粉刷。
Zhuāng xiū gōng rén yòng shuǐ ní fěn shuā le wài qiáng.
The renovation workers plastered the exterior wall with cement.

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.

粉 points to the plaster material, and 刷 to the brushing action.

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.

米分粉

Meaning part形符xíngfú

米米mǐrice

Sound part声符shēngfú

分

分fēn粉fěn

Same sound today

粉 pairs 米 (rice) with 分 for its sound. The rice part points to face powder made from rice.

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

刀刀dāoknife

Sound part声符shēngfú

㕞

㕞㕞刷shuā

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

刷 uses 刀, a knife, and pairs it with 㕞 as a sound component.

Appears in

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