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全人类 (quán rén lèi) — all of humanity; the whole human race

Definition

noun
all of humanitythe whole human race

Examples

  • 全人类。
    Wǒ men yīng gāi guān xīn quán rén lèi de wèi lái.
    We should care about the future of all humanity.
  • 全人类。
    Qì hòu biàn huà shì quán rén lèi gòng tóng miàn duì de wèn tí.
    Climate change is a problem faced by all humanity.
  • 全人类。
    Yì qíng ràng quán rén lèi gèng jiā tuán jié.
    The pandemic made all humanity more united.

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.

全quánall
人类human race
人rénhuman类lèikind
偏正Modifier + head

全 means whole, and 人类 means human kind, giving all humanity.

Characters in this word

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

The shape puts 入 together with 玉 to show a whole piece of jade, so it means complete or whole.

Open 全 →

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 類; 类 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
犬犬quǎn
Sound part声符shēngfú
頪
頪lèi類lèi
Same sound today

The traditional form 類 pairs 犬, which relates to the meaning, with 頪, which gives the sound. The simplified 类 is a shorthand, and its parts are not the historical components.

Open 类 →
Appears in
People (General)

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