草料 (cǎo liào) — forage; fodder | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

foragefodder

Examples

，草料。
Dōng tiān dào le, nóng mín yào zhǔn bèi zú gòu de cǎo liào gěi niú yáng chī.
Winter is coming, and farmers need to prepare enough fodder for the cattle and sheep.
草料，。
Zhè xiē cǎo liào shì wèi mǎ de, bú yào ná qù wèi jī.
This forage is for feeding horses, don't use it to feed the chickens.
。
Mǎ péng lǐ duī mǎn le gān cǎo liào.
The stable is piled high with dry fodder.

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.

The grass 草 and the feed 料 together mean fodder for animals.

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.

艹早草

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎograss; plant

Sound part声符shēngfú

早

早zǎo草cǎo

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

草 pairs 艹 (grass; plant) with 早, which gives the sound. The form originally referred to another word and was later used for the grass sense.

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

米斗料

米米mǐrice
斗斗dòudipper

料 combines 米 (rice) with 斗 (a dipper), showing rice being measured or gauged.

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