TongTong
Sign in

领土 (lǐng tǔ) — territory

Definition

领土 is the political/legal 'territory' of a state — the land a country governs and defends. More formal and official than 土地, and more narrowly political than 国土's plain 'national land.'

noun
territory
Measure word · 块

Examples

  • 领土。
    Měi gè guó jiā dōu yǒu quán bǎo wèi zì jǐ de lǐng tǔ.
    Every country has the right to defend its own territory.
  • 领土。
    Liǎng guó tōng guò tán pàn jiě jué le lǐng tǔ zhēng duān.
    The two countries resolved the territorial dispute through negotiations.
  • 领土。
    Zhè piàn lǐng tǔ zì gǔ yǐ lái jiù shǔ yú zhōng guó.
    This territory has belonged to China since ancient times.

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.

领lǐngjurisdictional
土tǔland

领 suggests jurisdiction and 土 means land, so together they describe territory under control.

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 領; 领 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yè
Sound part声符shēngfú
令
令lìng領lǐng
Same sound today

The traditional form 領 has 令 as a sound part and 頁 as a meaning part; the simplified 领 is a later shorthand.

Open 领 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 土 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Government & Politics

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.