A Probe into the Origin of the Endocentric Compound “Chuanghu”

In the process of its formation, the compound “chuanghu” (window) had experienced three phases: di-referential, co-referential and mono-referential.The mono-referential word “chuanghu” appeared in about Song and Yuan Dynasties. In Ming Dynasty, more examples of such use could be seen, but they were confined geographically. While in Qing Dynasty, such confine no longer existed and the compound had been used universally as a word of modern Chinese.