农奴 (nóng nú) — serf

Definition

A serf: a peasant bound to a lord's land in pre-1950s feudal China, forced to labor for the landowner. Strongly associated with the historical 农奴制 (serfdom) abolished in Tibet in 1959.

noun
serf
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • ，农奴。
    Zài jiù shè huì, nóng nú men shēng huó fēi cháng jiān kǔ.
    In the old society, the serfs lived a very hard life.
  • 1959，农奴。
    1959 Nián, xī zàng jiě chú le nóng nú zhì dù.
    In 1959, Tibet abolished the serfdom system.
  • 农奴。
    Zhè xiē nóng nú bèi pò wèi dì zhǔ láo dòng.
    These serfs were forced to work for the landlord.

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.

农nóngfarming
奴núslave

农, farming, and 奴, slave, together mean a serf bound to farm work.

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 農; 农 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 農 comes from 林 (vegetation) and 辰 (a hoe), showing a hoe among vegetation to remove weeds; the simplified 农 is a later abbreviation.

Open 农 →

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

奴 shows 又 (a hand) and 女 (a woman): a hand capturing and ordering a woman around.

Open 奴 →

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