镇民 (zhèn mín) — townsman; urbanite (resident of a town or city)

Definition

noun
townsmanurbanite (resident of a town or city)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 镇民。
    Zhè wèi lǎo zhèn mín zài zhèn shàng zhù le liù shí nián.
    This old townsman has lived in the town for sixty years.
  • 镇民。
    Xǔ duō zhèn mín dōu cān jiā le shè qū huì yì.
    Many townspeople participated in the community meeting.
  • 镇民。
    Xiǎo chéng shì de zhèn mín shēng huó jié zòu jiào màn.
    The pace of life for urbanites in small cities is relatively slow.

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.

镇zhèntown
民mínperson

镇 is a town, and 民 is a person, giving a resident of a town.

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 鎮; 镇 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
金金jīnmetal
Sound part声符shēngfú
真
真zhēn鎮zhèn
Same sound today

The traditional form 鎮 uses 金, metal, and 真, which gave its sound; it depicted pressing down with a metal weight. The simplified 镇 is a later abbreviation.

Open 镇 →

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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