警民 (jǐng mín) — police and the community; police-community (as a paired concept)

Definition

A paired compound referring to the police and the public as two cooperating sides — almost always used as a modifier (e.g. 警民关系, 警民合作) rather than on its own.

noun
police and the communitypolice-community (as a paired concept)

Examples

  • 警民。
    Zhè ge chéng shì de jǐng mín guān xì hěn hǎo.
    The police-community relationship in this city is very good.
  • 警民。
    jǐng mín Hé zuò shì wéi hù ān quán de zhòng yào fāng shì.
    Police-community cooperation is an important way to maintain safety.
  • 警民。
    Tā men jǔ bàn le jǐng mín lián huān huó dòng.
    They held a police-community gathering event.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

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

警jǐngpolice
民mínpeople

The 警 (police) and 民 (people) are paired to refer to police and the community together.

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
言言yánspoken language, speech
Sound part声符shēngfú
敬
敬jìng警
Same sound today

警 places 言 (speech) below 敬; 敬 gives the sound.

Open 警 →

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

The early form of 民 shows an eye pierced by a sharp cross-shaped implement, possibly linked to an injured or unclear eye.

Open 民 →

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