司长 (sī zhǎng) — department head; director of a department (in government or large organization)

Definition

A government department-level title (e.g. in a ministry), one rank below 司局长/局长 and above 处长. The '司' refers to a 'department' under a ministry, not a private-company division head.

noun
department headdirector of a department (in government or large organization)
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 司长。
    Zhè wèi sī zhǎng fù zé zhěng gè bù mén de yù suàn.
    This department head is responsible for the entire department's budget.
  • 司长。
    Xīn shàng rèn de sī zhǎng tí chū le gǎi gé fāng àn.
    The newly appointed department head proposed a reform plan.
  • 司长。
    sī zhǎng Zài huì yì shàng zuò le gōng zuò bào gào.
    The department head gave a work report at the meeting.

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sīdepartment
长chángchief

司 (department) and 长 (chief) give the leader of a department.

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 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 長; 长 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 長 pictures an old man with long hair. The simplified 长 is a later shorthand, so its strokes do not show that original picture.

Open 长 →

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