社员 (shè yuán) — member (of a commune, society, club, or cooperative)

Definition

社员 literally means 'member of a 社' — any organized group (commune, cooperative, club). It is the collective, formal term, broader than 会员 (used mainly for associations and clubs with formal membership).

noun
member (of a commune, society, club, or cooperative)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • ，社员。
    Tā jiā rù shè yǐng jù lè bù hòu, chéng le yí wèi jī jí de shè yuán.
    After joining the photography club, he became an active member.
  • 社员。
    Zhè ge nóng yè hé zuò shè de shè yuán měi nián dōu cān yù fēn hóng.
    Members of this agricultural cooperative participate in profit sharing every year.
  • 社员、。
    Rén mín gōng shè shí qī de shè yuán gòng tóng láo dòng, píng jūn fēn pèi.
    During the people's commune period, members worked together and shared equally.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

社shèsociety
员yuánmember

'社' denotes the society or commune and '员' denotes a person belonging to it.

Characters in this word

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

社 joins 示 (god; deity) and 土 (soil), so its shape is about the god of the land.

Open 社 →

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 員; 员 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
鼎鼎dǐngding
Sound part声符shēngfú
〇
〇líng員yuán
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 員, 〇 supplies the sound and 鼎 supplies the meaning; the simplified 员 is a shortened form.

Open 员 →

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