倒算 (dào suàn) — (historical) to seize back confiscated property (especially land), to reverse land reform

Definition

A historical term for landlords or former owners seizing back property (especially land) redistributed during land reform. The action is performed by the original owners reclaiming what was taken from them.

verb
(historical) to seize back confiscated property (especially land), to reverse land reform

Examples

  • 倒算。
    Dì zhǔ men shì tú dào suàn nóng mín fēn dào de tǔ dì.
    The landlords tried to seize back the land that had been distributed to the peasants.
  • 倒算。
    Lì shǐ shàng céng fā shēng guò yí cì yán zhòng de dào suàn shì jiàn.
    A serious incident of seizing back confiscated property once occurred in history.
  • 倒算。
    Zhèng fǔ yán lì dǎ jī le rèn hé dào suàn de xíng wéi.
    The government severely cracked down on any act of seizing back confiscated property.

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.

倒dǎoreverse
算suànsettle accounts

In 倒算, 倒 indicates reversing and 算 indicates settling accounts, describing the seizure of confiscated land and property by former landlords after land reform.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
到
到dào倒dào
Same sound today

倒 combines 亻 (person) with 到, which gives the sound.

Open 倒 →

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

The current form 算 has 竹 on top, 目 in the middle, and 廾 below; the 目 part may have originally drawn counting rods, often made of bamboo.

Open 算 →

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