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为首 (wéi shǒu) — to be headed by; to have (someone) as the leader

Definition

为首 (wéi shǒu) means 'to be headed by / with (someone) as the leader' — it points to who leads, not to the leading action itself. Usually follows 以: 以...为首.

verb
to be headed byto have (someone) as the leader

Examples

  • 为首。
    Zhè ge dài biǎo tuán yǐ wáng xiān sheng wéi shǒu.
    This delegation is headed by Mr. Wang.
  • 为首。
    Yǐ tā wéi shǒu de tuán duì qǔ dé le jù dà chéng gōng.
    The team led by him achieved great success.
  • 为首。
    Zhè cì huì yì yǐ jǐ wèi zhuān jiā wéi shǒu jìn xíng tǎo lùn.
    This meeting was led by several experts in the discussion.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

为wèibe
首shǒuleader

为 means be, 首 means leader, so 为首 is to be the leader.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 為; 为 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 為 showed a hand holding an elephant; the simplified 为 is a later shorthand.

Open 为 →

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 →
Appears in
HSK 2.0 Level 6Management

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