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大队 (dà duì) — (military) large group, formation, e.g. battalion; (historical) production brigade (basic unit in rural communes); a large number or crowd (of people)

Definition

大队 has three distinct uses: a military unit (battalion-sized), the rural "production brigade" of the Mao-era communes, and a large crowd ("a big group of people"). The middle sense is historical — China has no 生产大队 today.

noun
(military) large groupformatione.g. battalion(historical) production brigade (basic unit in rural communes)a large number or crowd (of people)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 大队。
    Tā men shǔ yú yí gè tè zhǒng dà duì.
    They belong to a special forces group.
  • ，大队。
    Rén mín gōng shè shí qī, dà duì shì jī běn de shēng chǎn dān wèi.
    During the people's commune period, the production brigade was the basic production unit.
  • 。
    Jīn tiān lái le dà duì rén mǎ.
    A large number of people came today.

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dàlarge
队duìgroup

「大」 means large and 「队」 means group, so it refers to a large formation.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 隊; 队 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阜阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
㒸
㒸㒸隊duì
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 隊 has 阜 as the meaning part and 㒸 as the sound part.

Open 队 →
Appears in
Groups & OrganizationsMilitary & Defense

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