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天主教堂 (tiān zhǔ jiào táng) — Catholic church

Definition

A Catholic church (the building). 天主教 is the Catholic faith itself; the 堂 marks the physical place of worship.

noun
Catholic church
Measure word · 座

Examples

  • 天主教堂。
    Wǒ měi gè xīng qī tiān dōu qù tiān zhǔ jiào táng.
    I go to the Catholic church every Sunday.
  • 天主教堂。
    Zhè ge tiān zhǔ jiào táng kě yǐ zuò yì qiān rén.
    This Catholic church can seat a thousand people.
  • 天主教堂。
    Wǒ men zuó tiān zài tiān zhǔ jiào táng qián miàn jiàn miàn.
    We met in front of the Catholic church yesterday.

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.

天主heavenly lord
天tiānheaven主zhǔlord
偏正Modifier + head
教堂religious hall
教jiàoreligion堂tánghall
偏正Modifier + head

天主, the heavenly lord, and 教堂, a religious hall, combine for Catholic church.

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
大大dà
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng天tiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

Open 天 →

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

The old forms that became 主 showed a lamp or torch with a flame at the top; other forms showed wood on fire or a spirit tablet.

Open 主 →

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
子子zǐchild
攵Written in full as攴pūteaching cane; stick that represents authority
Sound part声符shēngfú
爻
爻yáo教jiào
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

教 uses 爻 for its sound and puts 子 (child) with 攵 (攴), a teaching cane, to show teaching a child.

Open 教 →

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tǔ
Sound part声符shēngfú
尚
尚shàng堂táng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

堂 uses 土 as a ground/earth part and 尚 for sound.

Open 堂 →
Appears in
Buildings & StructuresReligion & Belief

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