TongTong
Sign in

首府 (shǒu fǔ) — capital city of an autonomous region

Definition

首府 is the capital of an autonomous region (e.g. Tibet), not a whole country — that is 首都. It also differs from 省会, the capital of a regular province.

noun
capital city of an autonomous region
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 首府。
    Lā sà shì xī zàng zì zhì qū de shǒu fǔ.
    Lhasa is the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
  • 首府，。
    shǒu fǔ Hé shǒu dū bù tóng, tā tè zhǐ zì zhì qū de xíng zhèng zhōng xīn.
    A capital of an autonomous region is different from a national capital; it specifically refers to the administrative center of an autonomous region.
  • ，首府。
    Jìn nián lái, zhè ge zì zhì qū de shǒu fǔ jīng jì fā zhǎn hěn kuài.
    In recent years, the economy of this autonomous region's capital has developed rapidly.

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.

首shǒuchief
府fǔgovernment seat

The 首 and 府 join chief and government seat to name the capital of a region.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape comes from an old drawing of an animal's head, showing a long mouth and horns; the version with hair became 首.

Open 首 →

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
广广guǎngbuilding
Sound part声符shēngfú
付
付fù府fǔ
Same sound today

府 shows a type of building with 广, while 付 gives the character its sound.

Open 府 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9City & Urban

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