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口供 (kǒu gòng) — oral confession or testimony, especially given to police or court

Definition

Formal legal term for a spoken statement given to police or a court. Distinct from the written 陈述 (chénshù) and from 证词 (zhèngcí), which covers witness testimony more broadly.

noun
oral confession or testimony, especially given to police or court
Measure word · 份

Examples

  • 口供。
    Tā de kǒu gòng qián hòu máo dùn.
    His oral testimony is contradictory.
  • 口供。
    Lǜ shī zǐ xì yuè dú le zhè fèn kǒu gòng.
    The lawyer carefully read this deposition.
  • 口供。
    kǒu gòng Bù néng zuò wéi wéi yī de zhèng jù.
    Oral testimony cannot be the only evidence.

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.

口kǒumouth
供gòngstatement

口 means mouth and 供 means statement, so the word means an oral confession or testimony.

Characters in this word

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

The form 口 looks like an open mouth.

Open 口 →

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
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
共
共gòng供gòng
Same sound today

供 is made of 亻, a person, and 共, which gives the sound gòng.

Open 供 →
Appears in
Crime & Police

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