secret price code; shop code
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 4 examplesnoun
secret code used by shops to mark prices
archaicHistorical term for a private numeric code used by shopkeepers, often to hide the true cost from customers. The '儿' suffix indicates a colloquial, often northern Mandarin, variant.
Zhè这
jiā家
lǎo老
diàn店
hái还
yòng用
àn暗
mǎ码
biāo标
jià价
，
zhǐ只
yǒu有
zhǎng掌
guì柜
de的
kàn看
de得
dǒng懂
。
This old shop still uses a secret code to mark prices; only the shopkeeper can understand it.
Tā他
bǎ把
“
yī一
”
xiě写
chéng成
“
dàn旦
”
，
dàng当
zuò作
àn暗
mǎ码
。
He wrote '旦' instead of '一' as the secret price code.
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Zhè这
zhǒng种
àn暗
mǎ码
r儿
xiàn现
zài在
jī基
běn本
jiàn见
bú不
dào到
le了
。
This kind of shop code is basically never seen nowadays.
Huǒ伙
jì计
děi得
xiān先
xué学
huì会
kàn看
àn暗
mǎ码
，
cái才
néng能
zhāo招
hū呼
kè客
rén人
。
The shop assistant had to learn how to read the secret codes first before he could serve customers.