考场 (kǎo chǎng) — examination hall; exam venue

Definition

noun
examination hallexam venue
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 考场。
    Míng tiān zǎo shàng bā diǎn wǒ men bì xū zài kǎo chǎng mén kǒu jí hé.
    We must gather at the exam hall entrance at 8 a.m. tomorrow.
  • 考场，。
    kǎo chǎng Lǐ fēi cháng ān jìng, zhǐ néng tīng jiàn xiě zì de shā shā shēng.
    The exam hall was very quiet; you could only hear the rustling of writing.
  • 考场。
    Xué xiào bǎ tǐ yù guǎn gǎi chéng le lín shí kǎo chǎng.
    The school turned the gymnasium into a temporary exam venue.

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.

考kǎotest
场chǎngplace

考场: 考 test and 场 place give a place where tests are held.

Characters in this word

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

  • 耂耂lǎoan old man with long hair, bent over
  • 丂丂kǎoa walking cane

In 考, the upper 耂 is an old man with long hair, bent over, and the lower 丂 is a walking cane.

Open 考 →

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 場; 场 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
土土tǔearth
Sound part声符shēngfú
昜
昜yáng場chǎng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 場 pairs 土 (earth) with 昜 as a sound part; the simplified 场 is a later abbreviation, so its parts do not have that historical role.

Open 场 →

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