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章节 (zhāng jié) — chapters and sections (of a book, document, etc.)

Definition

noun
chapters and sections (of a book, document, etc.)

Examples

  • 章节。
    Zhè běn shū de zhāng jié ān pái dé fēi cháng hé lǐ.
    The chapters and sections of this book are arranged very reasonably.
  • 章节。
    Lǎo shī yāo qiú wǒ men yù xí xià yì zhāng jié de nèi róng.
    The teacher asked us to preview the content of the next chapter and section.
  • 章节。
    Zhè bù fǎ lǜ fēn wéi shí gè zhǔ yào zhāng jié.
    This law is divided into ten main chapters and sections.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

章zhāngchapter
节jiésection

章 and 节 are parallel parts of a text, so the word means chapters and sections.

Characters in this word

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

章 shows a chisel piercing a piece of jade in the middle. It originally meant treating jade.

Open 章 →

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 節; 节 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
⺮Written in full as竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
即
即jí節jié
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 節 pairs ⺮ (bamboo) with 即, which gives the sound; the bamboo part points to a node of bamboo. The simplified 节 is a later abbreviation.

Open 节 →
Appears in
Reading & Writing

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