保育员 (bǎo yù yuán) — child-care worker

Definition

A 保育员 is a professional caregiver for young children in settings like nurseries or kindergartens — specifically trained in child development and daily care, broader than a 保姆 (general household helper).

noun
child-care worker
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 保育员。
    Tā shì yì míng jīng yàn fēng fù de bǎo yù yuán.
    She is an experienced child-care worker.
  • 保育员。
    Zhè jiā yòu ér yuán de bǎo yù yuán hěn zhào gù hái zi men.
    The child-care workers at this kindergarten take good care of the children.
  • 保育员。
    Wǒ ér zi hěn xǐ huan tā de bǎo yù yuán.
    My son really likes his child-care worker.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

保育childcare
保bǎoprotect育yùraise
联合Side by side
员yuánperson

保育 means protecting and raising children, and 员 points to a person, so the result is a childcare worker.

Characters in this word

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

保 originally showed a person 人 carrying a child 子 on their back, which led to the sense of protecting.

Open 保 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 育 →

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 員; 员 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
鼎鼎dǐngding
Sound part声符shēngfú
〇
〇líng員yuán
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 員, 〇 supplies the sound and 鼎 supplies the meaning; the simplified 员 is a shortened form.

Open 员 →

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