耍猴 (shuǎ hóu) — to put on a monkey show; to get a monkey to per…

Definition

Literally 'play with a monkey': a street-performance verb for training a monkey to do tricks, and by extension, teasing or making fun of someone.

verb

to put on a monkey showto get a monkey to perform tricksto make fun of someoneto tease

耍猴，。
Jiē biān yǒu rén zài shuǎ hóu, xī yǐn le hěn duō xiǎo hái.
Someone was putting on a monkey show on the street, attracting many children.
，。
Nǐ bié zài shuǎ wǒ de hóu le, zài zhè yàng wǒ kě shēng qì le.
Stop making fun of me; if you keep this up, I'll get angry.
，。
Tā shuǎ le yí xià wǔ de hóu, bǎ guān zhòng dòu dé hā hā dà xiào.
He performed the monkey show all afternoon, making the audience roar with laughter.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

耍shuǎplay; show tricks

耍 gives the action of playing or showing tricks, and 猴 is what is played with.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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

犭侯猴

Meaning part形符xíngfú

犭Written in full as犬quǎn

Sound part声符shēngfú

侯

侯hóu猴hóu(r)

Same sound today

猴 pairs 犭, the animal part, with 侯, which gives the sound.