刑侦 (xíng zhēn) — criminal investigation | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Short for 刑事侦查, referring to criminal investigation work or the genre of crime/police procedurals (e.g., 刑侦剧 'crime drama'). Distinct from 侦查 (general investigation/侦查手段); 刑侦 narrows the scope specifically to criminal cases.

noun

criminal investigation

Examples

刑侦。
Tā shì yì míng jīng yàn fēng fù de xíng zhēn zhuān jiā.
He is an experienced criminal investigation expert.
刑侦。
Jǐng fāng zhèng zài duì zhè qǐ àn jiàn jìn xíng xíng zhēn.
The police are conducting a criminal investigation into this case.
刑侦。
Zuì jìn rè bō de nà bù xíng zhēn jù hěn hǎo kàn.
That popular crime drama airing recently is very good.

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.

刑xíngcriminal

侦zhēninvestigation

刑侦 combines 刑, criminal, with 侦, investigation, meaning work on criminal cases.

Characters in this word

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

井

井jǐng刑xíng

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

刑 puts 刀 (knife) beside 井. The knife part shows the punishment idea, and 井 gives the sound.

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 偵; 侦 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

⺅Written in full as人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

貞

貞zhēn偵zhēn

Same sound today

The traditional form 偵 pairs ⺅ (person) with 貞, which gives the sound and the idea of asking; the simplified 侦 is a later shorthand.

Appears in

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