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人寿保险 (rén shòu bǎo xiǎn) — life insurance

Definition

noun
life insurance

Examples

  • 人寿保险。
    Tā mǎi le yí fèn rén shòu bǎo xiǎn.
    He bought a life insurance policy.
  • 人寿保险。
    rén shòu bǎo xiǎn De bǎo fèi měi nián dōu yào jiāo.
    The premium for life insurance has to be paid every year.
  • 人寿保险。
    Hěn duō rén bǎ rén shòu bǎo xiǎn dàng zuò yì zhǒng tóu zī fāng shì.
    Many people regard life insurance as a form of investment.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

人寿
人rénperson寿shòulife
偏正Modifier + head
保险
保bǎoprotect险xiǎnrisk
动宾Verb + object

人寿 means human life and 保险 means insurance, naming insurance on a person's life.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 壽; 寿 is its simplified writing.

  • 耂耂lǎoold
  • 𢏚𢏚𢏚

The traditional form 壽 uses 耂 for old and a sound part 𢏚, plus added decorative marks; the simplified 寿 is a later shorthand.

Open 寿 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

保 originally showed a person 人 carrying a child 子 on their back, which led to the sense of protecting.

Open 保 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 險; 险 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阝Written in full as阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
僉
僉qiān險
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 險 pairs 阝, written in full as 阜, with 僉, which gives the sound; the simplified 险 is a shorthand.

Open 险 →
Appears in
Finance & Banking

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