鱼贩 (yú fàn) — fishmonger

Definition

noun
fishmonger

Examples

  • 鱼贩。
    Nà ge yú fàn mài de yú hěn xīn xiān.
    The fish sold by that fishmonger is very fresh.
  • 鱼贩。
    Tā měi tiān zǎo shàng dōu qù shì chǎng zhǎo zhè ge yú fàn mǎi yú.
    She goes to the market every morning to buy fish from this fishmonger.
  • 鱼贩，。
    Zuò wéi yí gè lǎo yú fàn, tā duì gè zhǒng yú de jià gé fēi cháng liǎo jiě.
    As an experienced fishmonger, he knows the prices of all kinds of fish very well.

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.

鱼yúfish
贩fànseller

鱼 names the fish and 贩 names the seller, together giving 'fishmonger'.

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 魚; 鱼 is its simplified writing.

For 鱼, the traditional form 魚 is a picture of a fish.

Open 鱼 →

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 販; 贩 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèicowry
Sound part声符shēngfú
反
反fǎn販fàn
Same sound today

The traditional form 販 combines 貝, a cowry shell, with 反 as a sound part; the simplified 贩 is a shorthand and its right side is not a historical component.

Open 贩 →

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