(bō li) - glass in Mandarin
bōliTraditional: 玻璃
Translation
glass
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Word origin
Both characters carry the 王 (jade) radical and the word is generally traced to a borrowing from Sanskrit for crystal, later settling on the sense of manufactured glass.
- Origin
- loanword
- Root
- 玻 + 璃, from Sanskrit sphaṭika (crystal)
Stroke order
玻
璃
Examples
，碎。
Careful, there is broken glass on the floor.
。
The window glass was broken by a ball.
。
This table is made of glass.
周。
He cleans the windows once a week.
隔，。
Through the glass I could see her inside.
玻璃 (bōli) is glass the material. It covers window panes, the top of a coffee table, the front of a phone screen and the shards left on the pavement afterwards. Note the pronunciation: the second syllable is almost always neutral in speech, so it comes out closer to a light 玻璃 than the tidy dictionary tone would suggest.
Two collocations do most of the work. 碎玻璃 is broken glass, and 擦玻璃 is cleaning the windows, which is what Chinese households call the job even though the English is about the window rather than the pane.
The trap is the drinking vessel. English uses one word for the substance and the container; Mandarin does not. A glass of water is 一杯水, and the object in your hand is 杯子 (bēizi). Ask for 一个玻璃 and you have asked for a sheet of glazing. If you need to specify the material, the phrase is 玻璃杯.
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Start your free week (no card)This word is taught in chapter 30, lesson 1: 玻璃, 女子, 眼前 and 7 more words.