犹太族 (yóu tài zú) — Jewish people (ethnic group)

Definition

noun
Jewish people (ethnic group)

Examples

  • 犹太族。
    Zhōng guó yǒu yí gè yóu tài zú shè qū.
    China has a Jewish community.
  • 犹太族。
    yóu tài zú De wén huà fēi cháng fēng fù.
    The culture of the Jewish people is very rich.
  • 犹太族。
    yóu tài zú De lì shǐ kě yǐ zhuī sù dào jǐ qiān nián qián.
    The history of the Jewish people can be traced back thousands of years.

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.

犹太Jewish
犹yóu太tài
族zúethnic group

犹太族 joins 犹太, the name for the Jewish people, with 族, an ethnic group.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 猶; 犹 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
犬犬quǎndog
Sound part声符shēngfú
酋
酋qiú猶yóu
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 猶 combines 犬 (dog) with 酋 as a sound part, and the evidence identifies it as a kind of monkey. The simplified 犹 is a shorthand, not the historical shape.

Open 犹 →

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

太 is a modified form of 大, with an extra dot added to show 'too big'.

Open 太 →

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

族 combines 㫃, a flag, and 矢, an arrow.

Open 族 →

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