文学系 (wén xué jì) — department of literature (in a college or unive…

Definition

noun

department of literature (in a college or university)

文学系。
Tā kǎo shàng le běi jīng dà xué de wén xué jì.
He got into the Department of Literature at Peking University.
文学系。
wén xué jì De xué shēng xū yào dú hěn duō shū.
Students in the literature department need to read a lot of books.
文学系。
Tā zài wén xué jì xué le sì nián zhōng wén.
She studied Chinese for four years in the literature department.

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.

文学literature

文wénliterature学xuéstudy

偏正Modifier + head

系xìdepartment

“文学” names literature, and “系” names a department.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

The current form 文 shows a man with head, arms, legs, and chest; the tattoo marks on the chest are no longer drawn.

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 學; 学 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 學 may have used 爻 and 六 for sound, with hands and a child added later; the simplified 学 is a shorthand.

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

系 is made by putting together 手 (hand) and 糸 (silk).