同党 (tóng dǎng) — fellow party member (of the same political party); accomplice (in a crime or wrongdoing)

Definition

同党 means 'a person in the same camp' — either a fellow member of one political party, or an accomplice in wrongdoing. Often carries a critical or accusatory tone, unlike neutral terms like 同事 or 朋友.

noun
fellow party member (of the same political party)accomplice (in a crime or wrongdoing)

Examples

  • 同党，。
    Tā shì wǒ de tóng dǎng, wǒ men yì qǐ cān jiā le zhè cì huì yì.
    He is my fellow party member; we attended this meeting together.
  • 同党。
    Jǐng fāng zhèng zài zhuī bǔ tā de tóng dǎng.
    The police are pursuing his accomplices.
  • 同党。
    Zhè xiē tóng dǎng zài xuǎn jǔ zhōng hù xiāng zhī chí.
    These fellow party members support each other in the election.

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.

同tóngsame
党dǎngparty

同 gives same, 党 gives party; together they mean a fellow party member or accomplice.

Characters in this word

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

同 originally drew a pipe. It is the old form of 筒.

Open 同 →

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
儿儿érhuman
Sound part声符shēngfú
尚
尚shàng党dǎng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

党 pairs 尚, giving its sound, with 儿, a human.

Open 党 →

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