原告 (yuán gào) — plaintiff, complainant

Definition

The party who initiates a lawsuit. Its counterpart in a case is 被告 (the defendant).

noun

plaintiffcomplainant

Measure word · 个

Easily confused

原告。
yuán gào De lǜ shī zài fǎ tíng shàng fā yán.
The plaintiff's lawyer spoke in court.
原告。
Fǎ yuàn pàn jué yuán gào shèng sù.
The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff.
原告。
yuán gào Xiàng fǎ yuàn tí jiāo le zhèng jù.
The plaintiff submitted evidence to the court.

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.

原 (initial) and 告 (accuse) combine to mean the one who first brings a lawsuit.

Characters in this word

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

原 combines 泉 (spring) and 厂 (cliff), picturing a spring bursting from a cliff-side, which gives the sense of origin or source.

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

The origin is unclear: one theory sees 告 as 壴 (a decorated drum) above 口 (an open mouth), while another sees a tongue sticking out of 口.

Appears in