大校 (dà xiào) — senior colonel (ground/air force); senior captain (navy)

Definition

Senior officer rank in the PLA: a senior colonel in the army and air force, equivalent to a senior captain in the navy. It sits above 上校 and below 少将.

noun
senior colonel (ground/air force)senior captain (navy)
Measure word · 位
Easily confused

Examples

  • 大校。
    Tā qù nián jìn shēng wéi dà xiào.
    He was promoted to senior colonel last year.
  • 大校。
    Zhè wèi dà xiào zhǐ huī le nà cì yǎn xí.
    This senior colonel commanded that exercise.
  • 大校。
    Hǎi jūn dà xiào de jūn xián biāo zhì shì sān tiáo gàng.
    The rank insignia of a senior captain in the navy is three bars.

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dàsenior
校xiàofield officer rank

The 大 (senior) 校 field officer rank gives a senior colonel or captain.

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.

Open 大 →

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
木木mùtree
Sound part声符shēngfú
交
交jiāo校jiào
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

校 is built from 木 (tree) on the left and 交 on the right, which supplies the sound.

Open 校 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.