人事部 (rén shì bù) — personnel department; human resources (HR) department

Definition

noun
personnel departmenthuman resources (HR) department
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • ,人事部。
    Nǐ rú guǒ yǒu shén me wèn tí, kě yǐ qù rén shì bù wèn yí xià.
    If you have any questions, you can go ask the HR department.
  • 人事部。
    rén shì bù De jīng lǐ jīn tiān xià wǔ yào miàn shì jǐ gè yìng pìn zhě.
    The manager of the personnel department is interviewing several applicants this afternoon.
  • 人事部。
    Wǒ de hé tong shì gēn rén shì bù zhí jiē qiān de.
    My contract was signed directly with the HR department.

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.

人事personnel affairs
人rénperson事shìaffairs
偏正Modifier + head
部bùdepartment

人事部 is a 部 (department) for 人事 (personnel affairs), where 人 means people and 事 means affairs.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

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

In 事, 又 is a hand and 中 is a flagpole with a drum; holding a flag in hand depicts performing a job.

Open 事 →

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
Sound part声符shēngfú
咅
咅pǒu部bù
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

部 pairs 咅, which gives the sound, with 邑. It originally named a place in today's Gansu.

Open 部 →

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