职业装 (zhí yè zhuāng) — professional attire; business wear

Definition

noun
professional attirebusiness wear
Measure word · 套

Examples

  • ，职业装。
    Míng tiān miàn shì, wǒ dé qù mǎi yí tào zhí yè zhuāng.
    I have an interview tomorrow, so I need to go buy a business suit.
  • 职业装。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī yāo qiú yuán gōng shàng bān chuān zhí yè zhuāng.
    This company requires employees to wear professional attire at work.
  • 职业装。
    Tā de yī chú lǐ fàng mǎn le gè zhǒng zhí yè zhuāng.
    Her wardrobe is full of all kinds of business wear.

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.

职业profession
职zhíduty业yèoccupation
联合Side by side
装zhuāngclothing

职业 names the work setting and 装 is clothing, giving attire suited to a job.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 職; 职 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
耳耳ěrear
Sound part声符shēngfú
戠
戠zhí職zhí
Same sound today

The traditional form 職 pairs 耳 (ear) with 戠, which gives its sound; the simplified 职 is a shorthand, so its parts are not the historical parts.

Open 职 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 業; 业 is its simplified writing.

  • 丵丵zhuóchisel
  • 大大dàperson; big

The traditional 業 is explained as a picture of a beam from which bells and chimes hang, or as a person lifting that beam. The simplified 业 is a shorthand, not the original shape.

Open 业 →

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 裝; 装 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
衣衣yīclothes
Sound part声符shēngfú
壯
壯zhuàng裝zhuāng
Same sound today

The traditional form 裝 pairs 衣 (clothes) with 壯 as a sound part; this story is about 裝, not the simplified 装.

Open 装 →

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