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暴动 (bào dòng) — insurrection; rebellion; uprising

Definition

A violent, armed mass uprising against authority — stronger and more forceful than 起义 (which can be a positive revolution). Always refers to armed, rebellious action, not a peaceful protest.

noun
insurrectionrebellionuprising
Measure word · 次

Examples

  • 暴动。
    Zhè cì bào dòng chí xù le sān tiān cái bèi zhèn yā xià qù.
    This insurrection lasted three days before being suppressed.
  • 暴动。
    Lì shǐ shū shàng jì zǎi le nà cì nóng mín bào dòng de qǐ yīn yǔ jié guǒ.
    The history books record the causes and results of that peasant rebellion.
  • 暴动。
    Zhèng fǔ xuān bù quán guó jìn rù jǐn jí zhuàng tài yǐ yìng duì zhè chǎng bào dòng.
    The government declared a national state of emergency to deal with this uprising.

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.

暴bàoviolent
动dòngrise or act

暴 means violent and 动 means to rise or act, so it denotes a violent uprising.

Characters in this word

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

The earliest form paired 虎 and 戈, a tiger and a weapon. The later 暴 came from a picture of hands drying something in the sun.

Open 暴 →

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 動; 动 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
力力lìstrength
Sound part声符shēngfú
重
重zhòng動dòng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 動 uses 力 (strength) and 重 as a sound part; 重 refers to a heavy bag ready to be moved by a human. This note is about 動, not 动.

Open 动 →
Appears in
Government & Politics

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