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贵族 (guì zú) — noble; aristocrat; the nobility

Definition

贵族 (guìzú) is a NOUN meaning the social class of nobles / aristocracy — not an adjective. For 'noble (in character)' use 高尚 or 君子; for 'noble (of birth / grand)' use 高贵.

noun
noblearistocratthe nobility
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 贵族。
    Zhè wèi guì zú zài lì shǐ shàng hěn yǒu míng.
    This noble is very famous in history.
  • 贵族。
    Tā lái zì yí gè guì zú jiā tíng.
    He comes from a noble family.
  • 贵族。
    guì zú Hé píng mín de shēng huó chā bié hěn dà.
    The lives of the nobility and commoners are very different.

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.

贵guìnoble
族zúclan

“贵” means noble or precious, and “族” means clan or group; together they name the nobility.

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 貴; 贵 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèimoney cowrie
Sound part声符shēngfú
臾
臾yú貴guì
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 貴 uses 貝, a money cowrie, for meaning and 臾 for sound. The simplified 贵 is a later shorthand, and its parts are not the old parts.

Open 贵 →

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

族 combines 㫃, a flag, and 矢, an arrow.

Open 族 →
Appears in
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