城建 (chéng jiàn) — urban construction; city infrastructure development and management

Definition

Abbreviation of 城市建设 — the planning, building, and management of city infrastructure (roads, pipelines, public facilities). Used as a compact field and department name, e.g. 城建局.

noun
urban constructioncity infrastructure development and management
Easily confused

Examples

  • 城建。
    Zhè cì chéng jiàn xiàng mù bāo kuò dào lù hé guǎn dào gǎi zào.
    This urban construction project includes road and pipeline renovation.
  • 城建。
    Tā zài chéng jiàn jú gōng zuò le èr shí nián.
    He has worked in the urban construction bureau for twenty years.
  • 城建。
    Zhèng fǔ jīn nián jiā dà le chéng jiàn tóu zī lì dù.
    The government has stepped up investment in urban construction this year.

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.

城chéngcity
建jiànconstruction

城 refers to the city, and 建 refers to construction, giving city construction.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
土土tǔsoil
Sound part声符shēngfú
成
成chéng城chéng
Same sound today

城 pairs 土 (soil) with 成 as a sound part, because city walls were originally made of stamped earth.

Open 城 →

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

  • 廴廴yǐn
  • 聿聿yù

The shape 建 shows 廴 and 聿, but it comes from an older drawing of a hand planting a pole into a base; the lower part of 聿 is not a brush.

Open 建 →

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