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团长 (tuán zhǎng) — commander of a regiment; head of a delegation, troupe, or team

Definition

Refers to the leader of any 团 — a military regiment, a performing troupe, or a delegation/team. The military sense is the more formal, traditional one; the troupe/delegation sense is common in everyday modern Chinese.

noun
commander of a regimenthead of a delegationtroupeor team
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 团长。
    Zhè wèi tuán zhǎng zài zhàn chǎng shàng fēi cháng yǒng gǎn.
    This regimental commander is very brave on the battlefield.
  • 团长。
    Wǒ men dài biǎo tuán de tuán zhǎng míng tiān huì jiàn duì fāng.
    The head of our delegation will meet the other side tomorrow.
  • 团长。
    Jù tuán de tuán zhǎng zhèng zài ān pái xià yì chǎng yǎn chū.
    The head of the troupe is arranging the next performance.

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.

团tuánregiment or group
长chánghead

团 is a regiment or group and 长 is its head, so 团长 names a commander or leader.

Characters in this word

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 團; 团 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
囗囗wéi
Sound part声符shēngfú
專
專zhuān團tuán
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 團 combines 囗 as a meaning part with 專 as a sound part; the story is about 團, not about 团.

Open 团 →

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 →
Appears in
Military & DefenseProfessions & Jobs

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