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司法部门 (sī fǎ bù mén) — judicial department, judiciary

Definition

noun
judicial departmentjudiciary

Examples

  • 司法部门。
    sī fǎ bù mén Fù zé fǎ lǜ zhí xíng.
    The judicial department is responsible for law enforcement.
  • 司法部门。
    Tā céng zài sī fǎ bù mén gōng zuò duō nián.
    He worked in the judiciary for many years.
  • 司法部门。
    Zhè ge àn jiàn yóu sī fǎ bù mén chǔ lǐ.
    This case is handled by the judicial department.

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.

司法judicial
司sīmanage法fǎlaw
动宾Verb + object
部门department
部bùsection门méndepartment
联合Coordinate

司法, managing law, specifies the kind of 部门, department or section.

Characters in this word

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

The evidence is inconclusive: one suggestion sees 司 as a mouth giving orders beside a mark of authority, another reads that mark as a hand, and another sees it as a reversed older form.

Open 司 →

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
廌廌zhìa type of antelope or caprid
Sound part声符shēngfú
盍
盍hé法fǎ
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

法's older form combined 氵 (water) and 廌 (a type of antelope or caprid), with 盍 as a sound part; later 廌 was dropped.

Open 法 →

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
邑邑yì
Sound part声符shēngfú
咅
咅pǒu部bù
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

部 pairs 咅, which gives the sound, with 邑. It originally named a place in today's Gansu.

Open 部 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 門; 门 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 門 pictures a gate as two door shapes side by side; the simplified 门 is a later shorthand.

Open 门 →
Appears in
Law & Justice

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