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单位 (dān wèi) — work unit (place of employment in China); unit of measurement; organizational unit, department

Definition

单位 has two main uses: a 'unit of measurement' (米、公里) and a 'work unit' — the workplace/employer, especially in the PRC system. Don't confuse it with 单元, which is a unit of housing or a textbook section.

noun
work unit (place of employment in China)unit of measurementorganizational unitdepartment
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 单位。
    Mǐ hé gōng lǐ dōu shì cháng dù dān wèi.
    Meters and kilometers are both units of length.
  • 单位。
    Wǒ men dān wèi de tóng shì hěn yǒu hǎo.
    The colleagues in our unit are very friendly.
  • ，单位。
    Yǐ qián, měi gè dān wèi dōu yǒu zì jǐ de yī yuàn.
    In the past, every work unit had its own hospital.

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.

单dānsingle
位wèiposition

单 means single and 位 means position, so 单位 denotes one basic unit.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 單; 单 is its simplified writing.

The form 單 originally pictured a Y-shaped wooden stick with two stones on top.

Open 单 →

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
人人rénman
Sound part声符shēngfú
立
立lì位wèi
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

位 combines 人 (man), related to people, with 立, which gives the sound. It was often simply written as 立.

Open 位 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 4HSK 2.0 Level 5Workplace & OfficeUnits & Measurement5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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