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镇长 (zhèn zhǎng) — town mayor; head of a town

Definition

noun
town mayorhead of a town
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 镇长，。
    Xīn zhèn zhǎng shàng rèn hòu, zhèn lǐ de dào lù dōu xiū hǎo le.
    After the new town mayor took office, all the roads in the town were repaired.
  • 镇长。
    Cūn mín men qù zhèn zhèng fǔ zhǎo zhèn zhǎng fǎn yìng qíng kuàng.
    The villagers went to the town government to report their situation to the mayor.
  • 镇长。
    Zhè wèi zhèn zhǎng fēi cháng guān xīn lǎo nián rén de shēng huó.
    This town mayor cares a lot about the lives of the elderly.

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
长chángleader

镇 is a town and 长 is a leader, giving the sense of the leader 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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 長; 长 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 長 pictures an old man with long hair. The simplified 长 is a later shorthand, so its strokes do not show that original picture.

Open 长 →
Appears in
Government & PoliticsProfessions & Jobs

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