开战 (kāi zhàn) — to start a war, to go to war; to battle against

Definition

Literally 'start a war', used both for real military conflict and, metaphorically, for heated competition (e.g. rival companies). Stronger and more literary than everyday 打仗 ('to fight a battle').

verb

to start a warto go to warto battle against

Examples

开战。
Liǎng guó zhōng yú kāi zhàn le.
The two countries finally went to war.
。
Tā men hé lín guó kāi guò yí cì zhàn.
They fought a war with the neighboring country once.
开战。
Zhè liǎng jiā gōng sī kāi shǐ zài shì chǎng shàng kāi zhàn.
These two companies began to go to war in the market.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

开kāistart

战zhànwar

开 means to start and 战 is war, so it is starting a war or beginning battle.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 開; 开 is its simplified writing.

門一廾開

門門méndoor
一一yīlatch and/or wooden pole that shuts a door
廾廾gǒnga pair of hands

The traditional form 開 shows 廾, a pair of hands, and 一, a latch or pole, inside 門, a door: hands opening a latched door. The simplified 开 is a shorthand form, so its parts are not the original pieces.

Open 开 →

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

占戈战

Meaning part形符xíngfú

戈戈gē

Sound part声符shēngfú

占

占zhàn战zhàn

Same sound today

战 pairs 占, which gives its sound, with 戈, a weapon.

Open 战 →

Appears in