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刑事 (xíng shì) — criminal (attributive), penal

Definition

An adjective meaning 'criminal / penal' — it modifies legal terms (法庭, 案件, 辩护) to mark them as belonging to criminal law, not the people who break the law (those are 罪犯 or 歹徒).

adjective
criminal (attributive)penal
Easily confused

Examples

  • 刑事。
    Zhè ge xíng shì fǎ tíng chǔ lǐ le hěn duō zhòng dà àn jiàn.
    This criminal court has handled many major cases.
  • 。
    Tā yīn shè xián xíng shì fàn zuì bèi dài bǔ le.
    He was arrested on suspicion of criminal offenses.
  • 刑事。
    xíng shì Biàn hù lǜ shī xū yào fēi cháng zhuān yè de zhī shi.
    A criminal defense lawyer needs very specialized knowledge.

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.

刑xíngpunishment
事shìmatter

刑 concerns punishment or crime, and 事 means affairs; together they describe criminal matters.

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
刀刀dāo
Sound part声符shēngfú
井
井jǐng刑xíng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

刑 puts 刀 (knife) beside 井. The knife part shows the punishment idea, and 井 gives the sound.

Open 刑 →

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 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Law & Justice

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