参议会 (cān yì huì) — (historical/political) council, representative assembly

Definition

A historical term for a representative council or assembly — specifically, elected bodies in Republican-era China (e.g. the wartime 国民参议会). Not a generic word for any modern council.

noun
(historical/political) councilrepresentative assembly

Examples

  • 参议会。
    Zhè ge cān yì huì yóu shè huì gè jiè dài biǎo zǔ chéng.
    This council is composed of representatives from all sectors of society.
  • 参议会。
    Guó mín cān yì huì zài kàng zhàn shí qī fā huī le zhòng yào zuò yòng.
    The People's Political Council played an important role during the War of Resistance.
  • 参议会。
    Tā céng zài dì fāng cān yì huì dān rèn yì yuán.
    He once served as a councilor in a local council.

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.

参议deliberate
参cānparticipate议yìdiscuss
联合Side by side
会huìassembly

参议 means to join in discussion, and 会 is an assembly, so the word denotes a deliberative representative body.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 參; 参 is its simplified writing.

For simplified 参, the story belongs to traditional 參, which combines 晶 (stars), 光 (light), and 彡 (rays) to show the Three Stars; one reading takes 光 as a kneeling person looking up.

Open 参 →

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 議; 议 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yántalk
Sound part声符shēngfú
義
義yì議⁰yì
Same sound today

The traditional form 議 pairs 言 (talk) with 義 as a sound component; the simplified 议 is a later shorthand.

Open 议 →

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 會; 会 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
合合héto meet
Sound part声符shēngfú
𡆧
𡆧𡆧會huì
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

Traditional 會 pairs 合 (to meet) with 𡆧, an original form for ironware, to give the sound. The simplified 会 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the original parts.

Open 会 →

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