军队 (jūn duì) — armed forces; military; troops

Definition

军队 refers to a country's armed forces as an institution (often paired with 支, 个). 部队 is more like a specific military unit; 兵 and 军人 refer to individual soldiers, not the whole force.

noun

armed forcesmilitarytroops

Measure word · 支, 个

Examples

军队。
Zhè zhī jūn duì gòng yǒu sān wàn rén.
This army has thirty thousand people in total.
军队。
jūn duì De xùn liàn fēi cháng zhòng yào.
Military training is very important.
军队。
Tā xiǎo shí hou jiù xiǎng jiā rù jūn duì.
He wanted to join the army when he was a child.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

军jūnarmy

队duìtroops

军 and 队 both refer to military bodies, together meaning armed forces.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 軍; 军 is its simplified writing.

車車jūcart; chariot
勹勹bāoto surround

In the traditional form 軍, 車 shows the chariot sense, while the part now written 勹 is a sound part, not the 'surround' 勹. Simplified 军 is a later shorthand.

Open 军 →

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 隊; 队 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

阜阜fù

Sound part声符shēngfú

㒸

㒸㒸隊duì

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 隊 has 阜 as the meaning part and 㒸 as the sound part.

Open 队 →

Appears in