卫队 (wèi duì) — armed escort; guard team | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

armed escortguard team

Measure word · 支

Examples

卫队。
Zǒng tǒng de wèi duì fù zé tā de ān quán.
The president's guard team is responsible for his safety.
卫队。
Chéng bǎo de wèi duì zhuāng bèi fēi cháng jīng liáng.
The castle's guard team is very well-equipped.
卫队。
Tā céng jīng shì wáng shì wèi duì de chéng yuán.
He was once a member of the royal guard.

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.

“卫” means guard and “队” a team, so an armed guard unit.

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 衛; 卫 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

韋

韋wéi衛wèi

Same sound today

The traditional form 衛 is built from 行 as the sense part and 韋 as the sound part; the simplified 卫 is a shorthand.

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 隊; 队 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

阜阜fù

Sound part声符shēngfú

㒸

㒸㒸隊duì

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 隊 has 阜 as the meaning part and 㒸 as the sound part.

Appears in

Military & Defense

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