古代的探險家用星星來辨別方向。

Early explorers used the stars for navigation.

Source: Tatoeba

Sentence Composition

1 古代 dài ancient times
=2 de
  1. of; ~'s (possessive particle)
  2. (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun)
  3. (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis)
  4. (used after a noun, verb or adjective to form a nominal expression, as in 皮革的 de "one made of leather" or 跑堂儿的 pǎotángrde "a waiter (literally, one who runs back and forth in a restaurant)" or 新的 xīnde "new one")
  5. also pr. or di in poetry and songs
=2 a taxi; a cab (abbr. for 的士 shì)
=2 really and truly
=2 (bound form) bull's-eye; target
3 探險家 tànxiǎnjiā explorer
4 yòng
  1. to use; to make use of; to employ
  2. (coverb) with; using
  3. to need; to have to (usu. used in the negative or in questions)
  4. usefulness; utility
  5. (bound form) expense; outlay
  6. (courteous) to eat; to drink
  7. (literary) hence; therefore
=5 星星 xīngxing (coll.) a star; the stars in the sky
=5 星星 xīngxīng
  1. (literary, figurative) salt-and-pepper; grizzled
  2. (~社區) Xingxing (a community in Chengzhong, Yingcheng, Xiaogan, Hubei, China)
  3. Xingxing (a community in Chengzhong, Yingcheng, Xiaogan, Hubei, China)
  4. salt-and-pepper; grizzled
  5. tiny spot; speck
6 lái
  1. to come
  2. (used as a substitute for a more specific verb)
  3. hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回来 huílai)
  4. ever since (as in 自古以来 lái)
  5. for the past (amount of time)
  6. (prefix) the coming ...; the next ... (as in 来世 láishì)
  7. (between two verbs) in order to
  8. (after a round number) approximately
  9. (used after to indicate possibility, as in 谈得来 tándelái, or after to indicate impossibility, as in 吃不来 chībulái)
7 辨別 biànbié to distinguish; to differentiate; to discern; to recognize; to tell
8 方向 fāngxiàng direction; orientation

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