产业 (chǎn yè) — industry; property, estate

Definition

产业 refers to a whole industry as an economic sector or production chain (汽车产业, 旅游产业). Unlike 行业 (a trade or profession, e.g. 律师行业) and 工业 (manufacturing/factories), 产业 emphasizes the integrated industry itself, including services and culture.

noun
industrypropertyestate
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 产业。
    Qì chē chǎn yè shì guó jiā de zhī zhù chǎn yè zhī yī.
    The automobile industry is one of the country's pillar industries.
  • 产业。
    Lǚ yóu chǎn yè dài dòng le dāng dì jīng jì de fā zhǎn.
    The tourism industry has driven the development of the local economy.
  • 产业。
    Wén huà chǎn yè zhèng zài kuài sù chéng zhǎng.
    The cultural industry is growing 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.

产chǎnproduction
业yèbusiness

产 points to production, 业 to business; together they name industry, with older sense of property/estate.

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 產; 产 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
生生shēngto be born
Sound part声符shēngfú
彥
彥yàn產chǎn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 產 pairs 生, "to be born," with 彥 as a sound part; the simplified 产 is a shorthand.

Open 产 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 業; 业 is its simplified writing.

  • 丵丵zhuóchisel
  • 大大dàperson; big

The traditional 業 is explained as a picture of a beam from which bells and chimes hang, or as a person lifting that beam. The simplified 业 is a shorthand, not the original shape.

Open 业 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5HSK 2.0 Level 6Business & CommerceIndustry & Manufacturing

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