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国防军 (guó fáng jūn) — national defense force; armed forces for national defense

Definition

noun
national defense forcearmed forces for national defense
Measure word · 支

Examples

  • 国防军。
    Guó jiā xū yào qiáng dà de guó fáng jūn lái bǎo hù rén mín.
    The country needs a strong national defense force to protect its people.
  • 国防军。
    Tā shì guó fáng jūn de yì míng yōu xiù shì bīng.
    He is an excellent soldier in the national defense force.
  • 国防军。
    Zhè zhī guó fáng jūn zhuāng bèi le xiàn dài huà wǔ qì.
    This national defense force is equipped with modern weapons.

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.

国防national defense
国guócountry防fángdefense
偏正Modifier + head
军jūnarmy

国防 means national defense and 军 means army, so the word denotes an army for defending the country.

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 國; 国 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
囗囗wéiclosure
Sound part声符shēngfú
或
或huò國guó
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 國 uses 囗 to show closure and 或 to give the sound.

Open 国 →

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
阝Written in full as阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
方
方fāng防fáng
Same sound today

防 pairs 阝 (written fully as 阜) with 方, which gives the sound.

Open 防 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 軍; 军 is its simplified writing.

  • 車車jūcart; chariot
  • 勹勹bāoto surround

In the traditional form 軍, 車 shows the chariot sense, while the part now written 勹 is a sound part, not the 'surround' 勹. Simplified 军 is a later shorthand.

Open 军 →
Appears in
Military & Defense

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