代管 (dài guǎn) — to manage on behalf of another; to act as a trustee or caretaker

Definition

代管 means managing someone else's affairs, property, or organization on their behalf, with a sense of formal responsibility. Pairs with verbs like 委托 ('entrust') to express the trustee side of a custody arrangement.

verb
to manage on behalf of anotherto act as a trustee or caretaker

Examples

  • ，代管。
    Tā bú zài shí, yóu wǒ dài guǎn tā de gōng sī.
    When he is away, I manage his company on his behalf.
  • 代管。
    Wǒ wěi tuō péng you dài guǎn wǒ de fáng zi.
    I entrusted a friend to take care of my house.
  • 代管。
    Tā dài guǎn zhè kuài tǔ dì yǐ yǒu wǔ nián.
    He has managed this piece of land on behalf of someone for five years.

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.

代dàion behalf of
管guǎnmanage

“代” means on behalf of and “管” means manage, so together they mean to manage for another.

Characters in this word

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
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
弋
弋yì代dài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 代, 亻 shows a person, and 弋 gives the sound.

Open 代 →

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
竹竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
官
官guān管guǎn
Same sound today

管 has 竹 (bamboo) on top to show it relates to bamboo, and 官 gives its sound.

Open 管 →

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