制造业 (zhì zào yè) — manufacturing industry

Definition

noun
manufacturing industry
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 制造业。
    Zhōng guó de zhì zào yè fā zhǎn hěn kuài.
    China's manufacturing industry is developing very fast.
  • 制造业。
    Tā zài zhì zào yè gōng zuò le shí nián.
    He has worked in the manufacturing industry for ten years.
  • 制造业。
    Zhè ge chéng shì yǐ zhì zào yè wén míng.
    This city is famous for its manufacturing industry.

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.

制造manufacture
制zhìmake造zàomake
联合Side by side
业yèindustry

“制造” means to make or produce, and “业” means industry, so the word denotes an industry that makes products.

Characters in this word

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

The form 制 pairs 朱 (tree) with 刀 (knife), showing the act of cutting a tree.

Open 制 →

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
辵辵chuòto walk
口口kǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
屮
屮chè造zào
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

Its origin is unclear, but early forms of 造 include 辵 (to walk) and 口, with 屮 as a sound part, and mean go or arrive.

Open 造 →

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 →

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