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干戈 (gān gē) — weapons of war; arms (literary); (figurative) war, armed conflict, strife

Definition

A literary term for 'weapons and war' — far more formal than the everyday 武器, and almost always used figuratively to mean armed conflict (e.g. 化干戈为玉帛, 大动干戈).

noun
weapons of wararms (literary)(figurative) wararmed conflictstrife

Examples

  • 干戈，。
    Liǎng guó rén mín dōu xī wàng huà gān gē wéi yù bó, cóng cǐ yǒu hǎo xiāng chǔ.
    The people of the two countries turned swords into plowshares and have lived in friendship ever since.
  • ，干戈，。
    Xiāo yān sì qǐ, gān gē biàn dì, bǎi xìng bǎo shòu zhàn luàn zhī kǔ.
    Gunpowder smoke rose everywhere and weapons littered the land — the common people suffered greatly from the chaos of war.
  • 。
    Gǔ dài zhū hóu guó zhī jiān cháng yīn lǐng tǔ zhēng duān ér dà dòng gān gē.
    In ancient times, feudal states often resorted to arms over territorial disputes.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

干gānshield
戈gēdagger-axe

干 was a shield and 戈 a dagger-axe; together they stand for weapons and war.

Characters in this word

The simplified 干 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (饼干, 干杯) it is 乾; in others (干, 干活儿) (干扰) it is 幹 or 干.

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 乾; 干 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
乙乙yǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
倝
倝gàn乾gān
Same sound today
Open 干 →

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

戈 is drawn as an ancient dagger-ax with one blade; its long diagonal stroke comes from the weapon's vertical handle.

Open 戈 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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