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公债 (gōng zhài) — government bond

Definition

noun
government bond
Measure word · 笔

Examples

  • 公债。
    Tā mǎi le hěn duō gōng zhài.
    He bought a lot of government bonds.
  • 公债。
    Zhèng fǔ fā xíng le xīn de gōng zhài.
    The government issued new bonds.
  • 公债。
    Tóu zī gōng zhài shì yì zhǒng bǐ jiào ān quán de fāng shì.
    Investing in government bonds is a relatively safe method.

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.

公gōngpublic/government
债zhàidebt

公 means public or government, and 债 means debt; together they mean a government bond.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

One theory sees 公 as a picture of a wide-mouthed, round-bottomed jar.

Open 公 →

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 債; 债 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
責
責zé債zhài
Same sound today

The traditional form 債 combines 亻 (person) with 責 as a sound part; the simplified 债 is a later shorthand, and its right side is not the historical sound part.

Open 债 →
Appears in
Finance & Banking

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