国土 (guó tǔ) — national territory, land of a country

Definition

国土 refers specifically to a country's own territory — the land under its sovereignty. 比 领土 more literary; 比 土地 more politically framed as belonging to the nation.

noun
national territoryland of a country
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 国土
    Měi gè guó jiā dōu yǒu zì jǐ shén shèng de guó tǔ.
    Every country has its own sacred national territory.
  • 国土
    guó tǔ Ān quán shì guó jiā ān quán de zhòng yào zǔ chéng bù fen.
    Territorial security is an important part of national security.
  • 国土
    Zhè ge guó jiā de guó tǔ zī yuán fēi cháng fēng fù.
    This country's land resources are very abundant.

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.

guócountry
land

国 and 土 together mean the land belonging to a country.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
wéiclosure
Sound part声符shēngfú
huòguó
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 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 土 →

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