算 suàn
- Strokes
- 14
- Radical
- ⺮ — bamboo
- Made of
- ⺮ bamboo 具 tool, implement
- How it's built
- Ideograph — the meaning is built from its parts
算盘
suànpán
abacus; calculations; plan
Characters in this word
盘 pán
- Strokes
- 11
- Radical
- 皿 — dish, vessel
- Made of
- 舟 boat, ship 皿 dish, vessel
- How it's built
- Phono-semantic — one part hints at the meaning, another at the sound
Example phrases
- 祖父仍然习惯用算盘核对账目，觉得这样比电子表格更踏实。 Zǔfù réngrán xíguàn yòng suànpán héduì zhàngmù, juéde zhèyàng bǐ diànzǐ biǎogé gèng tāshi. Grandfather still prefers using an abacus to check the accounts, feeling it is more reassuring than a spreadsheet.
- 商店里还能买到那种老式的木头算盘吗？ Shāngdiàn li hái néng mǎidào nèizhǒng lǎoshì de mùtou suànpán ma? Can you still buy that old-fashioned wooden abacus in shops?
- 他心里早打好了算盘，先攒钱再去旅行。 Tā xīnli zǎo dǎ hǎo le suànpán, xiān zǎn qián zài qù lǚxíng. He already has his plan figured out: first save money, then go traveling.
Related words
- 打算 dǎsuàn to plan; plan
- 计算机 jìsuànjī computer
- 算 suàn to count; to count as
- 计算 jìsuàn to calculate
- 总算 zǒngsuàn finally
- 就算 jiùsuàn even if
- 算了 suànle forget it; that’s enough
- 算是 suànshì to be considered as; quite
- 不算 búsuàn not count as; not be considered
- 测算 cèsuàn to estimate; to calculate
- 估算 gūsuàn to estimate
- 划算 huásuàn cost-effective; worth it