边城 (biān chéng) — border town, frontier town

Definition

Literally 'border town,' but in modern Chinese it most often refers to Shen Congwen's classic 1934 novel 《边城》 — a symbol of idealized rural China.

noun
border townfrontier town
Measure word · 座
Easily confused

Examples

  • 边城。
    Zhè ge biān chéng wèi yú liǎng guó jiāo jiè chù.
    This border town is located at the junction of two countries.
  • 《边城》。
    Shěn cóng wén de xiǎo shuō 《biān chéng》 shì zhōng guó xiàn dài wén xué de jīng diǎn.
    Shen Congwen's novel 'Border Town' is a classic of modern Chinese literature.
  • 边城。
    Zhè zuò biān chéng de jū mín dà duō yǐ mào yì wéi shēng.
    Most residents of this frontier town make a living through trade.

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.

边biānborder
城chéngtown

边 gives the frontier or border, and 城 gives the town; together they mean a frontier town.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 邊; 边 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
辶Written in full as辵chuòwalking; movement
Sound part声符shēngfú
臱
臱mián邊biān(r)
Same sound today

The traditional form 邊 pairs 辶 (walking; movement) with the sound part 臱; the simplified 边 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the original parts.

Open 边 →

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
土土tǔsoil
Sound part声符shēngfú
成
成chéng城chéng
Same sound today

城 pairs 土 (soil) with 成 as a sound part, because city walls were originally made of stamped earth.

Open 城 →

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