重罪 (zhòng zuì) — felony; serious crime | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

felonyserious crime

Examples

重罪。
Tā yīn wèi fàn le zhòng zuì bèi pàn le shí nián.
He was sentenced to ten years for committing a felony.
。
Zhè qǐ zhòng zuì yǐn qǐ le shè huì de guǎng fàn guān zhù.
This serious crime has drawn widespread public attention.
重罪。
Fǎ lǜ duì zhòng zuì de chǔ fá fēi cháng yán lì.
The law imposes very severe penalties for felonies.

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.

重zhòngserious

The word combines 重 meaning serious with 罪 meaning crime, so it denotes a serious crime.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

東

東dōng重zhòng

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

重 developed from a picture of a man carrying a bag, with 人 for the man and 東 for the bag; a later ground element was folded into the form.

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

罒非罪

罒网wǎngnet
非非fēimistake

罪 puts 罒 (a net, written fully as 网) over 非 (mistake).

Appears in

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