大法官 (dà fǎ guān) — grand justice; justice of a supreme court

Definition

noun

grand justicejustice of a supreme court

Measure word · 位

大法官。
Nà wèi dà fǎ guān yǐ gōng zhèng zhù chēng.
That grand justice is known for being fair.
大法官。
Tā jīng guò duō nián nǔ lì zhōng yú chéng wéi le yì míng dà fǎ guān.
After many years of effort, he finally became a grand justice.
大法官。
Zuì gāo fǎ yuàn yóu jiǔ wèi dà fǎ guān zǔ chéng.
The Supreme Court is composed of nine grand justices.

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.

法官law official

偏正Modifier + head

大 means big, 法 means law, and 官 means official: a high law official.

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

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

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

廌廌zhìa type of antelope or caprid

Sound part声符shēngfú

盍

盍hé法fǎ

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

法's older form combined 氵 (water) and 廌 (a type of antelope or caprid), with 盍 as a sound part; later 廌 was dropped.

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

官 pairs 宀, a roof, with 𠂤, rooms beneath it, to depict an official building.

Appears in