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奖金 (jiǎng jīn) — bonus, award money

Definition

Money awarded for performance, given by an employer or organization. Unlike 奖品 (a physical prize) or 奖杯 (a trophy), 奖金 is specifically cash.

noun
bonusaward money
Measure word · 笔

Examples

  • 奖金。
    Jīn nián gōng sī gěi le wǒ yì bǐ jiǎng jīn.
    The company gave me a bonus this year.
  • ，奖金。
    Tā gōng zuò nǔ lì, ná dào le hěn duō jiǎng jīn.
    She worked hard and received a large bonus.
  • 奖金。
    Yōu xiù yuán gōng kě yǐ ná dào gèng duō de jiǎng jīn.
    Outstanding employees can get bigger bonuses.

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.

奖jiǎngprize
金jīnmoney

奖 means prize and 金 means money; together they mean money given as an award.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 獎; 奖 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
犬犬quǎndog
Sound part声符shēngfú
將
將jiāng獎jiǎng
Same sound today

The traditional form 獎 pairs 將 as a sound part with 犬, a dog; the simplified 奖 is a later shorthand. The evidence says the dog part's meaning is unclear, perhaps referring to guiding a dog by voice.

Open 奖 →

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

金 was drawn with marks for two pieces of metal, along with a part that gave its sound; it first meant copper, then metals and gold.

Open 金 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 4HSK 2.0 Level 4Money & Currency5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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