公用事业 (gōng yòng shì yè) — public utility

Definition

noun
public utility

Examples

  • 公用事业。
    Chéng shì jiàn shè lí bù kāi fā zhǎn gōng yòng shì yè.
    City construction cannot do without developing public utilities.
  • 公用事业。
    Zhèng fǔ xū yào què bǎo gōng yòng shì yè de zhèng cháng gōng yìng.
    The government needs to ensure the normal supply of public utilities.
  • 公用事业。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī fù zé chéng shì de gōng yòng shì yè guǎn lǐ.
    This company is responsible for the city's public utilities management.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

One theory sees 公 as a picture of a wide-mouthed, round-bottomed jar.

Open 公 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

用 was formed by adding a handle to an earlier form.

Open 用 →

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 →

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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