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前门 (Qián mén) — front door, front gate; (figurative) open and aboveboard dealing, transparent procedure (contrasted with 后门)

Definition

A literal 'front door/gate', and figuratively 'open, aboveboard dealings' — as opposed to 后门 ('back door'), which means using connections or unfair shortcuts. Use 前门 to stress doing things the proper, transparent way.

noun
front doorfront gate(figurative) open and aboveboard dealingtransparent procedure (contrasted with 后门)

Examples

  • 前门，。
    Zhè ge dà lóu de Qián mén zài zuǒ biān, hòu mén zài yòu biān.
    The front door of this building is on the left, and the back door is on the right.
  • 前门，。
    Bàn shì yào jiǎng Qián mén, bù néng zǒng xiǎng zǒu hòu mén.
    When handling affairs, you should be transparent and not always think about using backdoor methods.
  • 前门，。
    Gōng sī tí chàng Qián mén jiāo yì, dù jué yí qiè àn xiāng cāo zuò.
    The company promotes transparent transactions and prohibits all behind-the-scenes manipulation.

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.

前qiánfront
门méndoor

前 gives front, and 门 gives door or gate, yielding the front door or gate.

Characters in this word

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

In the older form of 前, 止 (foot) and 舟 (boat) showed a foot on a boat moving forward; in the current 前 those parts are shortened.

Open 前 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 門; 门 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 門 pictures a gate as two door shapes side by side; the simplified 门 is a later shorthand.

Open 门 →
Appears in
Home & Housing

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