学生证 (xué sheng zhèng) — student ID card

Definition

noun

student ID card

Measure word · 张

学生证。
Qǐng chū shì nín de xué sheng zhèng.
Please show your student ID card.
学生证，。
Wǒ de xué sheng zhèng diū le, xū yào bǔ bàn yì zhāng.
I lost my student ID card and need to get a replacement.
学生证。
Jìn tú shū guǎn xū yào shuā xué sheng zhèng cái néng jìn qù.
To enter the library, you need to swipe your student ID card to get in.

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.

学生student

偏正Modifier + head

证zhèngcertificate

学 means study, 生 means person, and 证 means certificate; it names a certificate for a student.

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 學; 学 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 學 may have used 爻 and 六 for sound, with hands and a child added later; the simplified 学 is a shorthand.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

生 shows 屮 (a bud) above 一 (the ground), drawing a sprout coming up from the earth.

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 證; 证 is its simplified writing.

言登證

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

登

登dēng證zhèng

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 證 pairs 言, a words/speech part, with 登 as a sound clue; the simplified 证 is a later shorthand.

Appears in