Example sentences
zhǔn准bèi备hǎo好le了ma吗？
Ready?
tā他zhǔn准bèi备kǎo考shì试。
He's preparing for the exam.
About this word
准 is level and exact, from the picture of water finding its own level, and 备 is having your quiver full. Exact and supplied is what being ready amounts to. 准备 runs as a verb (准备晚饭, fix dinner) and as a noun (做好准备, get prepared). 准 on its own also means accurate, and in modern usage to permit, as in 不准停车, no parking.
The story behind the character
准
准 is 冫 with 隹 supplying the sound. The older form 準 was 氵 (water) with 隼, and Xu Shen defined it as 平也, level. Water finds its own level, so a water gauge was the original standard, and 准 grew into meaning accurate, on target. 准备: you get everything level before you start.
备
備 is a person (人) standing next to 𤰇, which the bronze inscriptions draw as arrows sitting in a quiver with the feathers up. A man with a full quiver on his back. Xu Shen defined 備 as 慎也, careful, which is how you feel when the arrows are counted and ready. Simplified 备 kept the quiver and dropped the man. 准备 is that same idea: nothing missing.