公愤 (gōng fèn) — public indignation; popular anger

Definition

Literary, written term for collective public anger at a wrongdoing or injustice. More formal and broader in scope than everyday 愤怒, which names personal anger felt by an individual.

noun
public indignationpopular anger

Examples

  • 公愤。
    Tā de xíng wéi yǐn qǐ le gōng fèn.
    His behavior aroused public indignation.
  • 公愤。
    Zhè jiàn shì yǐn qǐ le quán chéng de gōng fèn.
    This incident sparked popular anger across the whole city.
  • 公愤。
    Zhè zhǒng bù gōng píng de dài yù jī qǐ le gōng fèn.
    This kind of unfair treatment stirred up public indignation.

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
愤fènanger

公 (public) and 愤 (anger) together mean popular indignation.

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 憤; 愤 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
忄Written in full as心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
賁
賁bì憤fèn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 憤 pairs 忄 (heart) with 賁, which gives the sound; the simplified 愤 is a later shorthand.

Open 愤 →

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