卫生院 (wèi shēng yuàn) — community health clinic; township hospital

Definition

noun
community health clinictownship hospital
Measure word · 家

Examples

  • 卫生院。
    Wǒ men zhèn de wèi shēng yuàn zuì jìn xīn tiān le shè bèi.
    Our town's health clinic recently added new equipment.
  • 卫生院，。
    Qù wèi shēng yuàn dǎ gè yì miáo ba, bú yòng yù yuē.
    Go to the health clinic for a vaccine — no appointment needed.
  • 卫生院，。
    wèi shēng yuàn De yī shēng dōu hěn fù zé, cūn mín hěn xìn rèn tā men.
    The doctors at the clinic are very responsible, and the villagers trust them a lot.

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.

卫生health
卫wèiprotect生shēnglife
动宾Verb + object
院yuàninstitution

卫生, from 卫 (protect) and 生 (life), means health; with 院 it names a health institution.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 衛; 卫 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
行行xíng
Sound part声符shēngfú
韋
韋wéi衛wèi
Same sound today

The traditional form 衛 is built from 行 as the sense part and 韋 as the sound part; the simplified 卫 is a shorthand.

Open 卫 →

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

生 shows 屮 (a bud) above 一 (the ground), drawing a sprout coming up from the earth.

Open 生 →

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
阝Written in full as阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
完
完wán院yuàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

院 is built from 阝, written in full as 阜, and 完, which gives the sound.

Open 院 →

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