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农业部 (nóng yè bù) — Ministry of Agriculture; Department of Agriculture

Definition

A government ministry (部) that oversees farming and agriculture. 农业 ('agriculture') specifies which ministry; 部 is the standard word for a cabinet-level department in China.

noun
Ministry of AgricultureDepartment of Agriculture

Examples

  • 农业部。
    nóng yè bù Fā bù le xīn de nóng yè zhèng cè.
    The Ministry of Agriculture announced a new agricultural policy.
  • 农业部。
    Tā zài nóng yè bù gōng zuò le hěn duō nián.
    She worked at the Ministry of Agriculture for many years.
  • 农业部。
    Zhè ge xiàng mù dé dào le nóng yè bù de zhī chí.
    This project received support from the Ministry of Agriculture.

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.

农业agriculture
农nóngagriculture业yèoccupation
偏正Modifier + head
部bùdepartment

农业 names the field of agriculture, and 部 is the department that handles it.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 農; 农 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 農 comes from 林 (vegetation) and 辰 (a hoe), showing a hoe among vegetation to remove weeds; the simplified 农 is a later abbreviation.

Open 农 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 業; 业 is its simplified writing.

  • 丵丵zhuóchisel
  • 大大dàperson; big

The traditional 業 is explained as a picture of a beam from which bells and chimes hang, or as a person lifting that beam. The simplified 业 is a shorthand, not the original shape.

Open 业 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
邑邑yì
Sound part声符shēngfú
咅
咅pǒu部bù
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

部 pairs 咅, which gives the sound, with 邑. It originally named a place in today's Gansu.

Open 部 →
Appears in
Agriculture & FarmingGovernment & Politics

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