基金 (jī jīn) — fund | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

基金 refers to a dedicated pool of money set up for a specific purpose (e.g. a pension or education fund). 资金 is the general word for capital/funds a company has on hand.

noun

fund

Measure word · 只

Examples

基金。
Wǒ men gōng sī shè lì le yí gè jiào yù jī jīn.
Our company set up an education fund.
基金。
Tā bǎ jī xù tóu rù zhè ge jī jīn lǐ.
She put her savings into this fund.
基金。
Zhè xiàng jī jīn zī zhù le hěn duō kē yán xiàng mù.
This fund has sponsored many scientific research projects.

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.

基jīfoundation

基金 combines 基, a foundation, with 金, money, giving money held as a base.

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.

其土基

Meaning part形符xíngfú

土土tǔearth

Sound part声符shēngfú

其

其qí基jī

Same sound today

The lower 土 means earth, and the upper 其 gives the sound; together they form the idea of a foundation of earth.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

金 was drawn with marks for two pieces of metal, along with a part that gave its sound; it first meant copper, then metals and gold.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6 HSK 2.0 Level 6 Finance & Banking 5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

Browse more HSK 6 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.