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总管 (zǒng guǎn) — butler, steward, or manager (in a household or organization); main pipe or conduit (in plumbing or engineering); (historical) garrison commander or military governor

Definition

Has three distinct senses: a household butler/steward, a main pipe in plumbing, and a historical military governor. The meaning depends on context — same word, completely unrelated uses.

noun
butlerstewardor manager (in a household or organization)main pipe or conduit (in plumbing or engineering)(historical) garrison commander or military governor
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 总管。
    Jiǔ diàn zǒng guǎn bāng wǒ men bān xíng li.
    The hotel butler helped us with our luggage.
  • 总管。
    Zhè zuò dà lóu de zǒng guǎn lòu shuǐ le.
    The main pipe of this building is leaking.
  • ，总管。
    Zài qīng cháo, zǒng guǎn shì yí gè zhòng yào de jūn shì zhí wèi.
    During the Qing dynasty, the garrison commander was an important military position.

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.

总zǒngoverall
管guǎnmanagement

总 means overall or main and 管 means pipe or management, so the word denotes a main pipe or steward.

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 總; 总 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糸糸mìrope
Sound part声符shēngfú
悤
悤cōng總zǒng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 總 has 糸, a rope, and 悤 as a sound part; the rope part is for binding together. This account is for 總, not for 总.

Open 总 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
竹竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
官
官guān管guǎn
Same sound today

管 has 竹 (bamboo) on top to show it relates to bamboo, and 官 gives its sound.

Open 管 →
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