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主席 (zhǔ xí) — chairperson; chairman; president (of a committee, organization, etc.)

Definition

Chairman or chairperson of a meeting, committee, or organization. For a country's leader, use 总统 (president) or 总理 (premier); 总裁 is for a company's CEO.

noun
chairpersonchairmanpresident (of a committee, organization, etc.)
Measure word · 个, 位

Examples

  • 主席。
    Zhè wèi zhǔ xí hěn yǒu jīng yàn.
    This chairperson is very experienced.
  • 主席。
    zhǔ xí Zài huì yì shì kāi huì.
    The chairperson is having a meeting in the conference room.
  • 主席。
    Tā men xuǎn le yí wèi xīn zhǔ xí.
    They elected a new chairperson.

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.

主zhǔhost
席xíseat

主 contributes 'host' and 席 contributes 'seat', giving the chairperson's seat.

Characters in this word

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

The old forms that became 主 showed a lamp or torch with a flame at the top; other forms showed wood on fire or a spirit tablet.

Open 主 →

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

席 originally showed a woven mat with an ornament. In 席, the mat became 巾, and a later sound part was written as 庶.

Open 席 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5HSK 2.0 Level 5Social Roles & Status5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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