大国 (dà guó) — great nation; major power | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

great nationmajor power

Measure word · 个

Examples

大国。
Zhōng guó yǐ jīng fā zhǎn chéng wéi yí gè dà guó.
China has already developed into a great nation.
。
Yí gè dà guó yīng gāi jiān chí hé píng fā zhǎn.
A great nation should persist in peaceful development.
大国。
dà guó Zhī jiān de hé zuò duì shì jiè hé píng hěn zhòng yào.
Cooperation among great powers is very important for world peace.

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.

大 (great) and 国 (nation) combine to mean a great nation.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

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

或huò國guó

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.

Appears in

Government & Politics

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