则 (zé) — (classifier) for news items, diary entries, stories, and other written records
Definition
As a classifier (measure word), 则 is used for discrete written items — news pieces, diary entries, rules, fables. 篇 counts longer written works like articles and essays; 则 is for shorter, more formal records.
classifier
for news itemsdiary entriesstoriesand other written records
Easily confused
Examples
- 则。Bào zhǐ shàng yǒu liǎng zé guān yú kē jì de xīn wén.There are two news items about technology in the newspaper.
- 则。Lǎo shī ràng wǒ men dú le sān zé yù yán gù shi.The teacher asked us to read three fables.
- 则。Zhè běn zá zhì bāo hán le shí zé duǎn piān xiǎo shuō.This magazine contains ten short stories.
Origin
Compound ideograph六书liùshū
会意huìyìTwo or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.
This origin belongs to the traditional form 則; 则 is its simplified writing.
The traditional form 則 pairs 鼎, a bronze cauldron, with 刂, a knife, possibly showing carving on a bronze vessel; the simplified 则 is a later shorthand.
Grammar
Appears in
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