Kilo Lingo

(chǎng) - measure word for events, matches and performances; ground, venue in Mandarin

chǎng

Traditional: 場

#2150 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

measure word for events, matches and performances; ground, venue

Word origin

Built from 土 (tǔ, earth) with 昜 as the phonetic element, originally a flat patch of levelled ground where crops were threshed or people gathered.

Origin
compound
Root
土 (tǔ, earth) + 昜 (yáng, phonetic)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 场

Examples

We watched a film yesterday.

There was a heavy shower of rain last night.

That was a wonderful match.

lán

They played a game of basketball.

Her very first performance was a success.

场 (chǎng) is the measure word for things that happen in one bounded stretch on a patch of ground: 一场比赛 (yī chǎng bǐ sài) a match, 一场电影 (yī chǎng diàn yǐng) a film screening, 一场雨 (yī chǎng yǔ) a spell of rain, 一场病 (yī chǎng bìng) a bout of illness.

The same character also builds venue words, where it means the ground itself: 机场 (jī chǎng) airport, 市场 (shì chǎng) market, 广场 (guǎng chǎng) square, 停车场 (tíng chē chǎng) car park.

The trap is choosing between 场 (chǎng) and 次 (cì). 次 (cì) counts occurrences in the abstract, so 我去过三次 (wǒ qù guò sān cì) means I have been three times. 场 (chǎng) counts the event as a staged occasion with a beginning and an end, so a football match is 一场 (yī chǎng), not 一次 (yī cì). Note too that 场 has a second reading, cháng, used for a threshing floor in rural speech; the everyday reading is the third tone one.

Where this fits

Used in

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Mandarin · Free printables

场: worksheet, infographic and listicle

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This word is part of lesson 43.