四人帮 (sì rén bāng) — (historical proper noun) Gang of Four (the poli…

Definition

Historical proper noun for the political faction led by Jiang Qing that was purged in 1976 after Mao's death, ending the Cultural Revolution.

noun

(historical proper noun) Gang of Four (the political faction purged in 1976)

四人帮。
sì rén bāng Shì wén huà dà gé mìng hòu qī de yí gè zhòng yào zhèng zhì jí tuán.
The Gang of Four was an important political group in the late Cultural Revolution.
四人帮。
Zhè běn shū xiáng xì jiè shào le sì rén bāng de lì shǐ.
This book gives a detailed introduction to the history of the Gang of Four.
四人帮，。
sì rén bāng Dǎo tái hòu, zhōng guó de zhèng zhì xíng shì fā shēng le hěn dà biàn huà.
After the fall of the Gang of Four, China's political situation underwent great changes.

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.

四人four people

偏正Modifier + head

四人 means four people and 帮 means gang, so the whole names a gang of four.

Characters in this word

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

The form 四 was drawn as a nose breathing out. It later came to be used for the word four.

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

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 幫; 帮 is its simplified writing.

封帛幫

Meaning part形符xíngfú

帛帛bósilk

Sound part声符shēngfú

封

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 帮's traditional form 幫, 帛 (silk) gives the meaning and 封 gives the sound; it originally named the upper part of a shoe.