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政权 (zhèng quán) — regime (a governing system or administration); political power (the authority to govern)

Definition

Refers to the ruling system itself ("a regime") or to who holds political power — more concrete than 政治 (politics as a domain). Pairs with verbs like 推翻 (overthrow) and 掌握 (hold).

noun
regime (a governing system or administration)political power (the authority to govern)

Examples

  • 政权。
    Zhè ge zhèng quán shì jīng guò cháng qī gé mìng jiàn lì de.
    This regime was established through a long revolution.
  • 政权，。
    Rén mín zhǎng wò le zhèng quán, guó jiā cái néng fā zhǎn.
    Only when the people hold political power can the country develop.
  • 政权。
    Xīn jiù zhèng quán de gēng tì wǎng wǎng bàn suí zhe shè huì biàn gé.
    The replacement of old and new regimes is often accompanied by social change.

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.

政zhènggovernment
权quánpower

政 refers to government or politics, and 权 to power, so together they denote governing authority.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
攴攴pūaction
Sound part声符shēngfú
正
正zhèng政zhèng
Same sound today

政 combines 正, which gives the sound, with 攴, an action-related part.

Open 政 →

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 權; 权 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
木木mùtree
Sound part声符shēngfú
雚
雚guàn權quán
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 權 shows 木, a tree, with 雚 giving the sound; it named a kind of tree and was used for a standard weight. The simplified 权 is a later shorthand, not the historical shape.

Open 权 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Government & Politics

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