办公厅 (bàn gōng tīng) — general office; secretariat (of a government or party organ)

Definition

The administrative hub inside a government or party body — handles daily coordination, documents, and seal-stamping, not a generic office building. In practice, "the 办公厅 of X" is the institutional general office / secretariat of that organization.

noun
general officesecretariat (of a government or party organ)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 办公厅。
    Guó wù yuàn bàn gōng tīng fù zé rì cháng xié tiáo gōng zuò.
    The General Office of the State Council is responsible for daily coordination.
  • 办公厅。
    Tā diào dào le shěng wěi bàn gōng tīng gōng zuò.
    He was transferred to work in the Provincial Party Committee Secretariat.
  • 办公厅。
    Zhè fèn wén jiàn xū yào sòng dào bàn gōng tīng gài zhāng.
    This document needs to be sent to the general office for stamping.

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.

办公handle official affairs
办bànhandle公gōngpublic affairs
动宾Verb + object
厅tīnghall

办公 means handling official affairs, and 厅 is a hall, so together they refer to an office for official business.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 辦; 办 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
力力lìstrength
Sound part声符shēngfú
辡
辡biàn辦bàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 辦 combines 力 (strength) with 辡, which gives the sound; the simplified 办 is a later shorthand.

Open 办 →

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

One theory sees 公 as a picture of a wide-mouthed, round-bottomed jar.

Open 公 →

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 廳; 厅 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
广广guǎnghouse
Sound part声符shēngfú
聽
聽tīng廳tīng
Same sound today

The traditional form 廳 pairs 广 (house) with 聽, which gives the sound; the simplified 厅 is a shorthand and its parts are not the original ones.

Open 厅 →

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