合众国 (hé zhòng guó) — the United States; federated country

Definition

noun
the United Statesfederated country

Examples

  • 合众国。
    hé zhòng guó Shì yí gè yóu wǔ shí gè zhōu zǔ chéng de lián bāng guó jiā.
    The United States is a federal country composed of fifty states.
  • 合众国,。
    Tā qù nián qù hé zhòng guó liú xué, xué xí guó jì guān xì.
    He went to the United States last year to study international relations.
  • 合众国。
    hé zhòng guó De guó qìng rì shì qī yuè sì rì.
    The Independence Day of the United States is July 4th.

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.

合众unite many
合héunite众zhòngmany
动宾Verb + object
国guócountry

合 means to unite, 众 means many, and 国 is the state or country; it names a union of many states.

Characters in this word

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

合 shows 亼 and 口 arranged as two mouths speaking together.

Open 合 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 眾; 众 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 眾 shows three people under a sun-like shape, meaning a crowd gathered under the sun; the simplified 众 is a later shorthand.

Open 众 →

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 國; 国 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
囗囗wéiclosure
Sound part声符shēngfú
或
或huò國guó
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 國 uses 囗 to show closure and 或 to give the sound.

Open 国 →

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