摩天大厦

摩天大廈
mótiāndàshà
noun #37,251

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 skyscraper
  2. 2 high-rise tower

Examples

Shànghǎi Lùjiāzuǐ yǒu xǔduō mótiāndàshà.
Shanghai's Lujiazui has many skyscrapers.
Zhè zuò mótiāndàshà gāo dá liùbǎi mǐ.
This skyscraper reaches six hundred meters in height.

Tips

memory
Reads literally as 'rub-sky big-building.' (mótiān) 'rub-the-sky' is the old Chinese rendering of skyscrapers' altitude — the same image English uses, just with rubbing instead of scraping. You'll see in (mótiānlún, 'Ferris wheel,' literally 'sky-rubbing wheel').
mistakes
Pronounce as shà here, not xià. The character is shà when it means 'mansion/tall building' and xià only as part of 厦门 (Xiàmén, the city Xiamen). Saying mótiān dàxià sounds like a learner error to native ears.

Stroke Order

tiān
shà