黑市 (hēi shì) — black market | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

black market

Examples

黑市。
Jǐng chá chá fēng le zhè ge hēi shì.
The police raided this black market.
黑市。
Tā zài hēi shì shàng mǎi le yì xiē jiǎ yào.
She bought some counterfeit medicine on the black market.
黑市。
hēi shì De jiāo yì shì fēi fǎ de.
Black market transactions are illegal.

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.

黑 (black or hidden) describes the 市 (market), giving an illegal market.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 黑 seems to come from drawing a head marked with dots, usually read as facial tattoos.

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

兮兮xībustling

Sound part声符shēngfú

之

之zhī市shì

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The old form 市 pairs 兮, meaning bustling, with 之, the sound part.

Appears in

Business & Commerce Crime & Police

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