耗油 (hào yóu) — to consume a lot of oil; to be fuel-inefficient; to use a lot of cooking oil

Definition

verb
to consume a lot of oilto be fuel-inefficientto use a lot of cooking oil

Examples

  • 耗油。
    Zhè liàng chē hěn hào yóu.
    This car is fuel-inefficient.
  • 耗油，。
    Zuò zhè dào cài bǐ jiào hào yóu, yào fàng hěn duō yóu.
    Cooking this dish uses a lot of oil; you need to put a lot of oil.
  • 耗油。
    Zhè zhǒng jī qì yě hěn hào yóu.
    This kind of machine also consumes a lot of oil.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

耗hàoconsume
油yóuoil

耗 (consume) and 油 (oil) together mean consuming a lot of oil.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 耗 →

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
由
由yóu油yóu
Same sound today

油 is built from 氵, a water part, and 由, which supplies the sound.

Open 油 →

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