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人造 (rén zào) — artificial, man-made, synthetic

Definition

Used for physical objects and materials made by humans (人造卫星, 人造纤维), not for behavior or emotions. Unlike 人工 (侧重人力劳动), it emphasizes the product being artificial rather than the process.

adjective
artificialman-madesynthetic
Easily confused

Examples

  • 。
    Zhè kē rén zào wèi xīng yǐ jīng yùn xíng le shí nián.
    This man-made satellite has been operating for ten years.
  • 人造。
    Zhè zhǒng rén zào xiān wéi bǐ mián bù gèng jiē shi.
    This synthetic fiber is stronger than cotton cloth.
  • 人造。
    Gōng yuán lǐ de rén zào hú shì qù nián wā de.
    The artificial lake in the park was dug last year.

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
造zàomake

Combines 人 and 造 to mean made by humans, hence artificial or synthetic.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
辵辵chuòto walk
口口kǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
屮
屮chè造zào
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

Its origin is unclear, but early forms of 造 include 辵 (to walk) and 口, with 屮 as a sound part, and mean go or arrive.

Open 造 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Technology & Engineering

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