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镇子 (zhèn zǐ) — small town, market town

Definition

noun
small townmarket town
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 镇子，。
    Zhè ge zhèn zǐ suī rán bú dà, dàn hěn rè nao.
    This small town is not big, but it's very lively.
  • 镇子。
    Tā chū shēng zài yí gè piān yuǎn de zhèn zǐ lǐ.
    He was born in a remote small town.
  • 镇子。
    Wǒ men kāi chē qù fù jìn de zhèn zǐ mǎi xiē rì yòng pǐn.
    We drove to a nearby market town to buy some daily necessities.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

镇zhèntown
子zǐfamiliarizing ending

镇 gives the town meaning, and 子 makes it a familiar, everyday name for a small market 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 鎮; 镇 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
金金jīnmetal
Sound part声符shēngfú
真
真zhēn鎮zhèn
Same sound today

The traditional form 鎮 uses 金, metal, and 真, which gave its sound; it depicted pressing down with a metal weight. The simplified 镇 is a later abbreviation.

Open 镇 →

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

子 is drawn as a baby with a large head, arms stretched out, and legs wrapped in a blanket.

Open 子 →
Appears in
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