冗员 (rǒng yuán) — superfluous staff; redundant personnel

Definition

noun

superfluous staffredundant personnel

Measure word · 个

冗员。
Gōng sī zuì jìn zài cái jiǎn rǒng yuán.
The company is recently cutting down on redundant staff.
冗员，。
Zhè ge bù mén yǒu hěn duō rǒng yuán, xū yào jīng jiǎn.
This department has a lot of redundant staff and needs streamlining.
冗员，。
Wèi le jiǎn shǎo rǒng yuán, tā men shí xíng le xīn de zhèng cè.
To reduce redundant staff, they implemented a new policy.

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.

冗rǒngsuperfluous

冗 means superfluous and 员 means staff, so the word names redundant personnel.

Characters in this word

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

冗 combines 宀 (roof) and 儿 (person) to picture a person at home without work to do.

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 員; 员 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

〇

〇líng員yuán

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 員, 〇 supplies the sound and 鼎 supplies the meaning; the simplified 员 is a shortened form.