打电话
dǎ diànhuà
to make a phone call
Type: VerbsHSK 1
打 (to hit, to do) + 电话 (telephone, literally 'electricity + speech'). Making a call is 'hitting the phone' — a metaphor from the old manual switchboards.
In China, WeChat is far more used than traditional voice calls. WeChat video calls are so common that people say 'call me on WeChat' (微信电话).
打
扌shǒuhand
丁dīngnail
话
讠yánspeech
舌shétongue
我给你打电话。
Wǒ gěi nǐ dǎ diànhuà.
I will call you.
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