铜牌 (tóng pái) — bronze medal; bronze plaque (e.g., bearing a bu… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Bronze medal awarded in competitions; the lighter sibling in the 奖牌 family — silver is 银牌, gold is 金牌. The other sense is a bronze name plaque hung at a building entrance.

noun

bronze medalbronze plaque (e.g., bearing a business name or logo)

Measure word · 枚

Examples

铜牌。
Zhè cì bǐ sài tā ná dào le yì méi tóng pái.
He won a bronze medal in this competition.
铜牌，。
Gōng sī mén kǒu guà zhe yí kuài tóng pái, shàng miàn kè zhe chéng lì nián fèn.
A bronze plaque is hanging at the company entrance, engraved with the year of establishment.
，铜牌。
Ào yùn huì shàng, tā huò dé le sān méi tóng pái zhōng de dì yī méi.
At the Olympics, he won the first of three bronze medals.

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.

Bronze material and a medal or plaque combine to name a bronze award.

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 銅; 铜 is its simplified writing.

金同銅

Meaning part形符xíngfú

金金jīnmetal

Sound part声符shēngfú

同

同tóng銅tóng

Same sound today

The traditional form 銅 pairs 金 (metal) with 同 as the sound part; the simplified 铜 is a shorthand.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

片卑牌

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

卑

卑bēi牌pái

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

牌 puts 片, a flat piece, beside 卑, which gives the sound.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6

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