所长 (suǒ zhǎng) — director of an institute; head of a research in…

Definition

noun

director of an institutehead of a research institute

Measure word · 位

所长，。
Tā shì wǒ men yán jiū suǒ de suǒ zhǎng, yǐ jīng gōng zuò le èr shí nián.
He is the director of our institute and has worked for twenty years.
所长。
Zhè cì huì yì shì yóu yuàn zhǎng hé suǒ zhǎng gòng tóng zhǔ chí de.
This meeting was co-chaired by the dean and the institute director.
所长，。
Xīn suǒ zhǎng shàng rèn hòu, zhì dìng le xǔ duō xīn de yán jiū jì huà.
After the new director took office, many new research plans were formulated.

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.

所suǒinstitute/place

所 “institute/place” and 长 “head” combine to mean the head of an institute.

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.

戶斤所

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

戶

戶hù所suǒ

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

所 pairs 斤, an axe, with 戶, which gives the sound hù; the old meaning was the sound of logging.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 長; 长 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 長 pictures an old man with long hair. The simplified 长 is a later shorthand, so its strokes do not show that original picture.

Appears in