碰 pèng to touch
How to remember 碰: 石 stone + 並 to combine = to touch. The red curling stone slows down, so the sweepers combine their efforts, and it just manages to touch the centre ring.
Component breakdown
碰 = 石 stone + 並 to combine
- 石 stone
- 並 to combine
The red curling stone slows down, so the sweepers combine their efforts, and it just manages to touch the centre ring.
How it is used
- Everyday spoken verb for physical contact: "to touch", "to bump into", "to run into (a person)".
- 碰见/碰到 (pèngjiàn/pèngdào) means "to run into someone by chance" - more casual and coincidence-flavored than 遇到 (yùdào), which can describe planned or unplanned encounters alike.
- 碰巧 (pèngqiǎo) "by coincidence" is a common adverb: 我碰巧在那儿 "I happened to be there".
- 碰钉子 (pèng dīngzi) "to hit a snag/get rebuffed" is a vivid colloquial idiom, literally "to bump into a nail".