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厅长 (tīng cháng) — director of a provincial-level government department

Definition

Refers to the head of a 厅, a provincial-level government department. It sits one rung below 部长 (national ministry head) in the administrative hierarchy.

noun
director of a provincial-level government department
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 厅长。
    Xīn lái de tīng cháng hěn yǒu jīng yàn.
    The newly arrived department head is very experienced.
  • 厅长。
    tīng cháng Zhèng zài huì yì shì kāi huì.
    The department director is having a meeting in the conference room.
  • 厅长。
    Wǒ men xià zhōu yào gēn tīng cháng huì bào gōng zuò.
    We need to report to the department head next week.

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.

厅tīngdepartment
长chángchief

The 长 chief of a 厅 department is the director of a provincial government office.

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 廳; 厅 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
广广guǎnghouse
Sound part声符shēngfú
聽
聽tīng廳tīng
Same sound today

The traditional form 廳 pairs 广 (house) with 聽, which gives the sound; the simplified 厅 is a shorthand and its parts are not the original ones.

Open 厅 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 長; 长 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 長 pictures an old man with long hair. The simplified 长 is a later shorthand, so its strokes do not show that original picture.

Open 长 →
Appears in
Government & PoliticsProfessions & Jobs

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