上院 (shàng yuàn) — (noun) upper house, the higher chamber in a bicameral legislature

Definition

上院 (shàngyuàn) means 'upper house' — the higher chamber in a two-house legislature, paired with 下院 (lower house). In the UK it specifically refers to the House of Lords.

noun
upper house, the higher chamber in a bicameral legislature

Examples

  • 上院。
    Yīng guó shàng yuàn yóu guì zú hé zhǔ jiào zǔ chéng.
    The UK's upper house is composed of nobles and bishops.
  • 上院。
    shàng yuàn Zuì jìn tōng guò le yí xiàng zhòng yào fǎ àn.
    The upper house recently passed an important bill.
  • 上院。
    Zhè ge guó jiā de shàng yuàn quán lì bǐ xià yuàn xiǎo.
    In this country, the upper house has less power than the lower house.

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.

上shàngupper
院yuànchamber

上 means upper and 院 means chamber, so together they mean upper house.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

上 is drawn as a short horizontal line placed above a longer arc, marking a position above that arc.

Open 上 →

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
阝Written in full as阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
完
完wán院yuàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

院 is built from 阝, written in full as 阜, and 完, which gives the sound.

Open 院 →

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