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第一夫人 (dì yī fū rén) — first lady (wife of the head of state)

Definition

Refers to the wife of a country's head of state — a fixed official title in political and media contexts, not a literal ranking of women.

noun
first lady (wife of the head of state)
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 第一夫人。
    Zhè wèi dì yī fū rén shēn shòu rén mín de zūn jìng.
    This first lady is deeply respected by the people.
  • 第一夫人。
    dì yī fū rén Chū xí le jīn wǎn de cí shàn wǎn yàn.
    The first lady attended tonight's charity dinner.
  • 第一夫人。
    Méi tǐ jīng cháng bào dào dì yī fū rén de gōng yì huó dòng.
    The media often reports on the first lady's public welfare activities.

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.

第一first
第dìordinal一yīone
前缀Prefix
夫人lady
夫fūhusband人rénperson
偏正Modifier + head

“第一” gives the number one in order and “夫人” means lady or wife; together they name the wife of a national leader.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
𥫗Written in full as竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
弟
弟dì第dì
Same sound today

第 shows 𥫗, the bamboo strips once used for writing and sorting, with 弟 giving the sound.

Open 第 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

Open 一 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

夫 originally drew a man. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write a pronoun, so the picture and the pronoun meaning are unrelated.

Open 夫 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →
Appears in
Identity & TitlesGovernment & Politics

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