赤膊 (chì bó) — bare to the waist, bare-chested

Definition

Literary/formal word for being bare to the waist, typically used in writing about labor, fighting, or strong/determined effort (as in 赤膊上阵). For everyday speech, 赤裸上身 or 没穿上衣 is more natural.

adjective
bare to the waistbare-chested

Examples

  • 赤膊。
    Nà wèi chì bó de nóng mín zài tián lǐ gàn huó.
    That bare-chested farmer is working in the field.
  • ，。
    Tā chì bó shàng zhèn, yí xià zi jiù dǎ bài le duì shǒu.
    He went into battle shirtless and defeated his opponent in one move.
  • 赤膊。
    Xià tiān hěn duō rén xǐ huan chì bó zài hǎi biān pǎo bù.
    In the summer, many people like to run shirtless by the sea.

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.

赤chìbare
膊bóshoulders

赤 (bare) and 膊 (shoulders) describe being bare to the waist.

Characters in this word

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

赤 is a stylized form showing 大 (a person) and 火 (fire), depicting a person by a fire.

Open 赤 →

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
肉肉ròubody
Sound part声符shēngfú
尃
尃fū膊bó
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

膊 combines 肉, meaning body, with 尃, which gives the sound.

Open 膊 →

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