Chinese word

炮

Pronunciation

Pinyinpào

Meaning

  • nouncannon

Example

村子里还留着一门古老的炮。cūn zi lǐ hái liú zhe yì mén gú lǎo de pào

The village still has an old cannon.

Illustration for 炮 (cannon)

More examples

港口附近发现了许多被炸毁的炮台。gáng kǒu fù jìn fā xiàn le xǔ duō bèi zhà huǐ de pào tái

Many destroyed gun emplacements were found near the harbor.

Core concept

A heavy weapon that sends a projectile through an explosive blast, often preserved as a relic from the past.

Common phrases

  • 炮火pào huǒ

    artillery fire

  • 炮口pào kǒu

    cannon muzzle

  • 炮台pào tái

    gun emplacement

Similar words

大炮dà pào: Large, powerful artillery used on land to fire shells.
火炮huǒ pào: A general term for military artillery that uses gunpowder to launch shells.

Definition in Chinese

指利用火药爆炸发射弹丸的重型火器，也常用于指称保存于史迹中的古代炮械。zhǐ lì yòng huǒ yào bào zhà fā shè dàn wán de zhòng xíng huǒ qì yě cháng yòng yú zhǐ chēng bǎo cún yú shǐ jì zhōng de gǔ dài pào xiè

Word origin

炮 (pào, "cannon") uses 火 (huǒ, "fire") as a meaning cue and 包 (bāo, "wrap") as a sound cue, linking the written form to a fire-powered weapon.

Usage tips

  • The pào reading belongs to the artillery sense, while the same character has other readings in other compounds, so pronunciation matters more than the single written shape.

Related words

  • 炮击pào jībombardverb

Word lists with this word