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本国 (běn guó) — one's own country; home country

Definition

noun
one's own countryhome country

Examples

  • 本国。
    Tā lí kāi běn guó yǐ jīng shí nián le.
    He left his home country ten years ago.
  • 本国。
    Xǔ duō liú xué shēng bì yè hòu xuǎn zé huí dào běn guó gōng zuò.
    Many international students choose to return to their home country to work after graduation.
  • 本国。
    Zhè ge zhèng cè shì wèi le bǎo hù běn guó de chǎn yè.
    This policy is to protect domestic industries.

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.

本běnown
国guócountry

本 “own” restricts 国 “country” to the speaker's own country.

Characters in this word

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

本 adds a stroke at the bottom of a tree shape to mark the roots, giving the sense of foundation or original.

Open 本 →

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
Government & Politics

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