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监禁 (jiān jìn) — to imprison, to jail (especially as a legal punishment)

Definition

Formal/legal verb meaning 'to imprison' as an official court-ordered punishment. Unlike 坐牢 (zuò láo, colloquial) or 服刑 (fúxíng, serve a sentence), 监禁 names the legal penalty itself.

verb
to imprisonto jail (especially as a legal punishment)

Examples

  • 监禁。
    Tā yīn wèi fàn zuì bèi jiān jìn le shí nián.
    He was imprisoned for ten years for committing a crime.
  • 监禁。
    Zhè ge guó jiā fǎ lǜ duì tān wū fàn shí xíng zhōng shēn jiān jìn.
    This country's law imposes life imprisonment on embezzlers.
  • 监禁。
    Tā bèi fǎ yuàn pàn chǔ wǔ nián jiān jìn.
    He was sentenced by the court to five years' imprisonment.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

监jiāndetain
禁jìnconfine

监禁 combines 监, detaining, with 禁, confining, to mean jail someone.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 監; 监 is its simplified writing.

  • 臥臥wòa person with an emphasized eye
  • 皿皿mǐncontainer

The traditional form 監 shows 臥, a person with an emphasized eye, looking into 皿, a container; the simplified 监 is a later shorthand.

Open 监 →

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
示示shìaltar
Sound part声符shēngfú
林
林lín禁jìn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

禁 has 林 above 示, an altar. The 林 part gives the sound, and the altar part connects the character to taboo or restricted matters.

Open 禁 →
Appears in
Crime & PoliceLaw & Justice5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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