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车灯 (chē dēng) — vehicle headlight, car headlight; Sichuan folk song-and-dance performance with a decorated cart

Definition

Literally 'vehicle light', this word most often means a car's headlight. It is also the name of a Sichuan folk performance featuring a decorated cart (汽车灯 / 跑马灯 in this sense).

noun
vehicle headlightcar headlightSichuan folk song-and-dance performance with a decorated cart
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 车灯，。
    Tā dǎ kāi chē dēng, zhào liàng le qián miàn de lù.
    He turned on the headlight and lit up the road ahead.
  • 车灯，。
    Zuó wǎn guǎng chǎng shàng biǎo yǎn le sì chuān chē dēng, fēi cháng rè nao.
    Last night, a Sichuan chē dēng performance was put on in the square; it was very lively.
  • 车灯，。
    Zhè liàng chē de chē dēng huài le, xū yào xiū lǐ.
    This car's headlight is broken and needs repair.

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.

车chēvehicle
灯dēnglamp

车 gives vehicle, 灯 gives lamp, a lamp fitted to a vehicle.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 車; 车 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 車 was drawn as a carriage seen from above, with wheels on both sides and a shaft at the front; the simplified 车 is a later shorthand.

Open 车 →

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
火火huǒ
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng灯dēng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

灯 pairs 火, which shows fire, with 丁, which gives the sound.

Open 灯 →
Appears in
Vehicles

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