停泊

tíng bó · HSK 7

to anchor

⚓🚢 停泊 = 停 stop + 泊 moor/berth — a ship stops and ties up

停 means stop or halt; 泊 means to moor or berth. Together they mean a vessel halts and ties up at anchor. The tíng in 停 is the same stop as in 停车 (park a car).

停 — person 亻 + pavilion 亭
A semantic-phonetic compound: 亻 (person) gives the meaning, while 亭 (pavilion, also pronounced tíng) supplies the sound. The image is of a person stopping at a roadside pavilion to rest, which yields the modern senses 'to stop, halt, park.'

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