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社团 (shè tuán) — social organization; association; club

Definition

A student-run or civil organization: 协会 is for official/professional bodies; 联盟 is a coalition of larger groups.

noun
social organizationassociationclub
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 社团。
    Zhè ge shè tuán de zōng zhǐ shì bāng zhù pín kùn xué shēng.
    The purpose of this association is to help underprivileged students.
  • 社团。
    Tā jī jí cān jiā shè tuán de gè zhǒng huó dòng.
    She actively participates in various activities of the club.
  • 社团。
    Wǒ men jǐ gè péng you yì qǐ chéng lì le yí gè shè tuán.
    A few of us friends started an organization together.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

社shèsociety
团tuángroup

社 gives society and 团 gives group, together an association.

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 團; 团 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
囗囗wéi
Sound part声符shēngfú
專
專zhuān團tuán
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 團 combines 囗 as a meaning part with 專 as a sound part; the story is about 團, not about 团.

Open 团 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Groups & Organizations

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