保险业 (bǎo xiǎn yè) — insurance industry

Definition

noun
insurance industry

Examples

  • 保险业。
    Jìn nián bǎo xiǎn yè fā zhǎn fēi cháng xùn sù.
    The insurance industry has developed very rapidly in recent years.
  • 保险业。
    Tā zài bǎo xiǎn yè gōng zuò le shí nián.
    He has worked in the insurance industry for ten years.
  • 保险业。
    Zhèng fǔ duì bǎo xiǎn yè de jiān guǎn yuè lái yuè yán gé.
    The government's regulation of the insurance industry is becoming stricter.

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.

保险protect against risk
保bǎoprotect险xiǎnrisk
动宾Verb + object
业yèindustry

保险 (protect against risk) and 业 (industry) form the insurance industry.

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 →

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 險; 险 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阝Written in full as阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
僉
僉qiān險
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 險 pairs 阝, written in full as 阜, with 僉, which gives the sound; the simplified 险 is a shorthand.

Open 险 →

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 →

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