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敌国 (dí guó) — enemy state; hostile nation; (literary) a rival nation of comparable strength

Definition

Literary term for an 'enemy state' — a hostile country of comparable military or economic strength, not just any rival. This is the noun sense; for a personal adversary use 敌人.

noun
enemy statehostile nation(literary) a rival nation of comparable strength

Examples

  • ，敌国。
    Zài zhàn zhēng zhōng, dí guó shì wǒ men de zhǔ yào wēi xié.
    In war, the enemy state is our main threat.
  • 敌国。
    Zhè ge dí guó de jīng jì shí lì hé wǒ men bù xiāng shàng xià.
    This rival nation's economic strength is comparable to ours.
  • ，敌国。
    Lì shǐ shàng, dí guó zhī jiān jīng cháng fā shēng chōng tū.
    Historically, enemy states often had conflicts.

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.

敌díhostile/enemy
国guóstate/country

'敌' means hostile or enemy, and '国' means state; together they name an enemy state.

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 敵; 敌 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
攴攴pūto tap; to hit
Sound part声符shēngfú
啻
啻chì敵dí
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 敵 pairs 啻 as a sound part with 攴, a part for tapping or hitting.

Open 敌 →

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 國; 国 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
囗囗wéiclosure
Sound part声符shēngfú
或
或huò國guó
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 國 uses 囗 to show closure and 或 to give the sound.

Open 国 →
Appears in
Military & Defense

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