国事 (guó shì) — national affairs; state affairs

Definition

noun

national affairsstate affairs

Easily confused

国事。
Tā jīng cháng chū guó chǔ lǐ guó shì.
He often goes abroad to handle state affairs.
国事。
guó shì Fǎng wèn shì wài jiāo gōng zuò de zhòng yào bù fen.
State visits are an important part of diplomatic work.
国事。
Liǎng guó lǐng dǎo rén jiù guó shì jiāo huàn le yì jiàn.
The leaders of the two countries exchanged views on state affairs.

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.

国 means country and 事 means affairs; together they refer to affairs of the state.

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 國; 国 is its simplified writing.

囗或國

Meaning part形符xíngfú

囗囗wéiclosure

Sound part声符shēngfú

或

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.

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

In 事, 又 is a hand and 中 is a flagpole with a drum; holding a flag in hand depicts performing a job.