工程兵 (gōng chéng bīng) — engineering corpsman, military engineer

Definition

A military engineer: a soldier whose job is construction, repair, and demolition work (bridges, roads, fortifications) rather than frontline combat.

noun

engineering corpsmanmilitary engineer

Measure word · 个

工程兵。
Tā shì yì míng gōng chéng bīng.
He is an engineering corpsman.
工程兵。
gōng chéng bīng Fù zé xiū jiàn qiáo liáng hé dào lù.
Engineering corpsmen are responsible for building bridges and roads.
工程兵。
Zhè xiē gōng chéng bīng zài zhàn chǎng shàng fā huī le zhòng yào zuò yòng.
These engineering corpsmen played an important role on the battlefield.

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.

工程engineering project

偏正Modifier + head

The engineering sense of 工程 and the soldier sense of 兵 combine to name a military engineer.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 工 is a picture of a bladed tool used to plow ground or mark a border; some read it as a carpenter's square.

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

禾呈程

Meaning part形符xíngfú

禾禾hégrain

Sound part声符shēngfú

呈

Same sound today

程 is made from 禾 (grain) and 呈 (pronounced chéng); the evidence gives measurements.

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

兵 combines 斤, a short axe, with 廾, two hands, showing a pair of hands holding a weapon.