分词 (fēn cí) — (linguistics) participle; (computational linguistics) word segmentation

Definition

In linguistics, 分词 means 'participle' (a verb form like the English -ing or -ed). In Chinese computational linguistics, it refers to 'word segmentation' — splitting a string of characters into word units, since Chinese has no spaces.

noun
(linguistics) participle(computational linguistics) word segmentation

Examples

  • ，分词分词。
    Zài yīng yǔ zhōng, xiàn zài fēn cí hé guò qù fēn cí de yòng fǎ bù tóng.
    In English, present participles and past participles are used differently.
  • 分词。
    Zhōng wén fēn cí shì zì rán yǔ yán chǔ lǐ de zhòng yào bù zhòu.
    Chinese word segmentation is an important step in natural language processing.
  • 分词。
    Zhè ge fēn cí xì tǒng néng zhǔn què huà fēn jù zi zhōng de cí yǔ.
    This word segmentation system can accurately divide words in a sentence.

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.

分fēndivision/part
词cíword

The 分 sense of division or part combines with 词 as word, for word division and participle forms.

Characters in this word

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

分 pairs 八 (to separate) with 刀 (knife), showing something cut apart with a knife.

Open 分 →

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 詞; 词 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspeech
Sound part声符shēngfú
司
司sī詞cí(r)
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 詞 uses 言, meaning speech, and 司 to show how it was pronounced; the simplified 词 is a shorthand, and its right side is not the historical sound part.

Open 词 →

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