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传票 (chuán piào) — (law) court summons; subpoena; (accounting) voucher; receipt

Definition

One word with two unrelated legal/finance senses: in law, a court summons (subpoena) telling you to appear in court; in accounting, a voucher or receipt used to record a transaction. The character is the same in both — context decides which.

noun
(law) court summonssubpoena(accounting) voucherreceipt
Measure word · 张

Examples

  • 传票，。
    Fǎ yuàn gěi tā fā le yì zhāng chuán piào, yāo qiú tā xià zhōu sān chū tíng.
    The court issued him a summons, requiring him to appear next Wednesday.
  • 传票，。
    Kuài jì bǎ suǒ yǒu de chuán piào dōu zhěng lǐ hǎo, zhǔn bèi yuè dǐ hé duì zhàng mù.
    The accountant organized all the vouchers, ready to reconcile the accounts at the end of the month.
  • 传票，。
    Shōu dào chuán piào hòu, tā lì kè lián xì le lǜ shī.
    After receiving the subpoena, he immediately contacted a lawyer.

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.

传chuánsummon
票piàoticket

传 means to summon or pass along, 票 means ticket or document, together naming a document used for summoning.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 傳; 传 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
人人rénman
Sound part声符shēngfú
專
專zhuān傳chuán
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 傳 puts 人 (man) beside 專, which gives the sound; the simplified 传 is a later shorthand, and its parts are not the historical ones.

Open 传 →

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

  • 火火huǒfire
  • 𢍱𢍱𢍱to rise high

票 combines 火 (fire) and 𢍱 (to rise high), originally representing sparks rising up.

Open 票 →
Appears in
Law & Justice

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