美编 (měi biān) — (noun) art editor; graphic designer (abbreviation for 美术编辑); (noun) layout and graphic design work

Definition

Abbreviation of 美术编辑, used in the publishing industry for the person who does layout and graphic design, or the design work itself. Refers specifically to magazine/book design, not digital or product design.

noun
art editorgraphic designer (abbreviation for 美术编辑)layout and graphic design work
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 美编。
    Zhè běn zá zhì de měi biān hěn yǒu chuàng yì.
    This magazine's art editor is very creative.
  • 美编。
    Tā zài chū bǎn shè zuò le shí nián měi biān.
    She worked as a graphic designer at a publishing house for ten years.
  • 美编。
    Zhè ge xiàng mù de měi biān gōng zuò yǐ jīng wán chéng le.
    The layout and design work for this project is already finished.

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.

美měiart
编biāneditor

“美” (art) with “编” (editor) names the person who handles graphics and layout.

Characters in this word

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

美 shows 大, a person, wearing 羊, a headdress of feathers or ram's horn.

Open 美 →

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 編; 编 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糸糸mìthread
Sound part声符shēngfú
扁
扁biǎn編biān
Same sound today

The traditional form 編 pairs 糸 (thread), for knitting a book together, with 扁 as the sound part; the simplified 编 is only a shorthand.

Open 编 →

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