文官 (wén guān) — civil official (as opposed to military officer)

Definition

A civil official in the imperial or government administration, distinguished from a military officer (武将). Use in historical or formal political contexts.

noun
civil official (as opposed to military officer)
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 文官。
    Zhè wèi wén guān zài cháo tíng gōng zuò le sān shí nián.
    This civil official worked at the imperial court for thirty years.
  • ，文官。
    Gǔ dài zhōng guó, wén guān hé wǔ jiàng de dì wèi dōu hěn gāo.
    In ancient China, both civil officials and military generals held high status.
  • ，文官。
    Tā chū shēn shū xiāng mén dì, hòu lái chéng le yì míng wén guān.
    He came from a scholarly family and later became a civil official.

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.

文wéncivil
官guānofficial

文 points to civil or literary duties, while 官 denotes an official, together giving a civil official.

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.

Open 文 →

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

  • 宀宀mián
  • 𠂤𠂤𠂤

官 pairs 宀, a roof, with 𠂤, rooms beneath it, to depict an official building.

Open 官 →

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