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范畴 (fàn chóu) — (philosophy, logic) category; fundamental grouping that defines a field of inquiry; (linguistics) grammatical category; domain; scope of a concept or discipline

Definition

范畴 is a formal, technical 'category' — used in philosophy, logic, and grammar, and broader than 类型 or 类别 (which sort concrete kinds). 范围 is the 'scope/extent' something covers, not a category itself.

noun
(philosophy, logic) categoryfundamental grouping that defines a field of inquiry(linguistics) grammatical categorydomainscope of a concept or discipline
Easily confused

Examples

  • 范畴。
    Shí jiān hé kōng jiān shì zhé xué de jī běn fàn chóu.
    Time and space are fundamental categories of philosophy.
  • 范畴。
    Dòng cí de shí tài shǔ yú yǔ fǎ fàn chóu.
    Verb tense belongs to the grammatical category.
  • 范畴。
    Zhè liǎng gè wèn tí bù shǔ yú tóng yí gè fàn chóu.
    These two questions do not belong to the same category.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

范fànpattern
畴chóufield

The parts for pattern and field combine to name a class or scope of concepts.

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
艸艸cǎograss
Sound part声符shēngfú
氾
氾fán范fàn
Same sound today

范 pairs 艸 (grass) with 氾, which gives its sound.

Open 范 →

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 疇; 畴 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
田田tiánfield
Sound part声符shēngfú
壽
壽shòu疇chóu
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 疇 shows 田, a field, beside 壽, which supplies the sound; the simplified 畴 is a later shorthand.

Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Abstract Concepts

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