园长 (yuán cháng) — director of a park, garden, or zoo; principal o…

Definition

noun

director of a parkgardenor zooprincipal of a kindergarten

Measure word · 个

园长。
Zhè wèi yuán cháng guǎn lǐ zhe zhěng gè gōng yuán de gōng zuò.
This director manages the work of the entire park.
园长，。
Tā dāng le shí nián yuán cháng, duì měi kē shù dōu hěn shú xi.
She has been the director for ten years and is very familiar with every tree.
园长。
yuán cháng Jué dìng zài yòu ér yuán lǐ jiàn yí gè xiǎo huā yuán.
The principal decided to build a small garden in the kindergarten.

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.

园 names a garden or park, and 长 names a leader, so the word means the person in charge.

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.

囗元园

Meaning part形符xíngfú

囗囗wéi

Sound part声符shēngfú

元

Same sound today

In 园, 元 sits inside 囗, and 元 gives the sound.

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.