间作 (jiàn zuò) — to intercrop; to practice intercropping

Definition

In agriculture, 间作 means growing two or more crops together in the same field at the same time. This is a technical term — for ordinary 'planting' or 'growing', Chinese uses 种植.

verb
to intercropto practice intercropping

Examples

  • 间作。
    Nóng mín zài tián lǐ jiàn zuò yù mǐ hé huā shēng.
    Farmers intercrop corn and peanuts in the field.
  • 间作。
    Hěn duō nóng mín dōu jiàn zuò lái tí gāo tǔ dì lì yòng lǜ.
    Many farmers intercrop to improve land utilization.
  • 间作。
    Tā men jiàn zuò shì wèi le jiǎn shǎo bìng chóng hài.
    They intercrop in order to reduce pests and diseases.

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.

间jiānbetween
作zuòplant, crop

间 “between” and 作 “plant, crop” combine to mean planting between crops.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 间 →

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
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
乍
乍zhà作zuò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 亻 comes from 人, meaning 'person', and the right side 乍 gives the sound.

Open 作 →

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