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人权 (rén quán) — human rights

Definition

noun
human rights

Examples

  • 。
    Bǎo hù rén quán shì měi gè guó jiā de zé rèn.
    Protecting human rights is the responsibility of every country.
  • 人权。
    Tā zài lián hé guó huì yì shàng tán dào le rén quán wèn tí.
    He talked about human rights issues at the UN conference.
  • 人权。
    Zhè ge zǔ zhī zhì lì yú tuī dòng rén quán de fā zhǎn.
    This organization is dedicated to promoting the development of human rights.

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rénhuman
权quánright

人 human plus 权 right gives rights belonging to people.

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 →

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 權; 权 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
木木mùtree
Sound part声符shēngfú
雚
雚guàn權quán
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 權 shows 木, a tree, with 雚 giving the sound; it named a kind of tree and was used for a standard weight. The simplified 权 is a later shorthand, not the historical shape.

Open 权 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Rights & Citizenship

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