司 (sī) — (bound form) to take charge of, to manage; (bound form) department (under a ministry)
Definition
司 (sī) is a bound form that almost never stands alone — it appears as the first part of a two-character word meaning 'department' (司法司) or as part of verbs meaning 'to manage' (司令). The standalone noun sense is rare in modern Chinese.
bound form
to take charge ofto managedepartment (under a ministry)
Examples
- ，。Tā shì yì míng sī jī, kāi le shí nián de chē.He is a driver who has been driving for ten years.
- 。Zhè jiā gōng sī de guī mó hěn dà.This company is very large in scale.
- 。sī Fǎ bù mén fù zé chǔ lǐ fǎ lǜ shì wù.The judicial department is responsible for handling legal affairs.
Origin
Compound ideograph六书liùshū
会意huìyìTwo 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.
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