机群 (jī qún) — fleet of aircraft; group of planes

Definition

noun
fleet of aircraftgroup of planes
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 机群。
    Yí gè páng dà de jī qún cóng jī chǎng qǐ fēi le.
    A huge fleet of aircraft took off from the airport.
  • 机群。
    Zhè ge jī qún yóu èr shí jià zhàn dòu jī zǔ chéng.
    This air fleet consists of twenty fighter jets.
  • 机群。
    Léi dá fā xiàn le yí gè bù míng jī qún.
    Radar detected an unidentified group of aircraft.

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.

机jīaircraft
群qúngroup

机 aircraft and 群 group combine to mean a group of aircraft.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
木木mùtree; wood
Sound part声符shēngfú
几
几jǐ机jī
Same sound today

The left part is 木 (tree; wood), and the right part 几 gives the sound.

Open 机 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
羊羊yáng
Sound part声符shēngfú
君
君jūn群
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

群 pairs 羊, a sheep, to point to a herd or group, with 君 giving the sound.

Open 群 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.