马车夫 (mǎ chē fū) — groom; cart driver

Definition

noun
groomcart driver
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 马车夫。
    Tā yé ye yǐ qián shì gè mǎ chē fū.
    His grandfather was a cart driver.
  • 马车夫。
    Zhè bù xiǎo shuō lǐ de mǎ chē fū hěn cōng ming.
    The cart driver in this novel is very smart.
  • ，马车夫。
    Měi tiān zǎo chén, mǎ chē fū dōu qù wèi mǎ.
    Every morning, the groom goes to feed the horses.

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.

马车horse cart
马mǎhorse车chēcart
偏正Modifier + head
夫fūman

马车 denotes a horse cart and 夫 denotes a man, together a horse-cart driver.

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 馬; 马 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 馬 shows a horse with its head facing left, a flowing mane, and two legs standing vertically.

Open 马 →

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 →

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

夫 originally drew a man. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write a pronoun, so the picture and the pronoun meaning are unrelated.

Open 夫 →

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