天主 (Tiān Zhǔ) — God (in Catholicism) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

天主 (Tiān Zhǔ) is the Catholic term for God, used in church contexts like 天主教堂. Distinguish from 上帝, the more general Protestant / common-Chinese word for God.

noun

God (in Catholicism)

Examples

天主。
Měi gè xīng qī tiān tā dōu huì qù jiào táng qí dǎo Tiān Zhǔ.
Every Sunday she goes to church to pray to God.
天主。
Tiān Zhǔ Shì chuàng zào tiān dì wàn wù de zhǔ zǎi.
God is the Lord who created heaven, earth, and all things.
，。
Zài zhè zuò Tiān Zhǔ jiào táng lǐ, rén men ān jìng dì zuò zhe mí sa.
In this Catholic church, people quietly celebrated Mass.

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.

天 means heaven and 主 means lord, naming the Lord of Heaven.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

丁

丁dīng天tiān

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

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

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

The old forms that became 主 showed a lamp or torch with a flame at the top; other forms showed wood on fire or a spirit tablet.

Appears in

Religion & Belief

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