增派 (zēng pā) — to send additional (personnel, troops, etc.)

Definition

A formal, written verb meaning 'to send additional (people, troops, etc.)' — emphasizes increasing the number sent, beyond the curriculum's simpler 派 (send/dispatch).

verb
to send additional (personnel, troops, etc.)

Examples

  • 增派。
    Gōng sī jué dìng zēng pā gèng duō yuán gōng dào xīn xiàng mù.
    The company decided to send more employees to the new project.
  • ，增派。
    Wèi le yìng duì jǐn jí qíng kuàng, zhèng fǔ zēng pā le jūn duì.
    To deal with the emergency, the government sent more troops.
  • 增派。
    Xué xiào zēng pā le lǎo shī lái bāng zhù xué shēng.
    The school sent more teachers to help students.

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.

增zēngadd
派pàidispatch

增 add and 派 dispatch combine: dispatch additional people.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
土土tǔearth
Sound part声符shēngfú
曾
曾céng增zēng
Same sound today

增 uses 土 (earth) to show that things grow in earth or are built from earth, and uses 曾 for the sound. This gives the sense of adding or increasing.

Open 增 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
水水shuǐwater; river
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠂢
𠂢𠂢派pài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

派 is built from 水 (water/river) and 𠂢. 𠂢 gives the sound, and 水 was added later to tell the character apart from the older form.

Open 派 →

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