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天主教 (Tiān zhǔ jiào) — Roman Catholicism; the Catholic Church

Definition

天主教 (Tiānzhǔjiào) is 'Roman Catholicism' as a religion / the Catholic Church — distinct from 基督教, which in Chinese usually refers to Protestantism. The adjective form 天主教的 means 'Catholic' (a Catholic family, a Catholic church).

noun
Roman Catholicismthe Catholic Church

Examples

  • 天主教，。
    Tā cóng xiǎo zài Tiān zhǔ jiào jiā tíng zhǎng dà, měi zhōu dōu qù jiào táng zuò mí sa.
    He grew up in a Catholic family and goes to Mass every week.
  • 天主教。
    Tiān zhǔ jiào De shèng dàn jié hé fù huó jié shì quán shì jiè xìn tú de zhòng yào jié rì.
    Christmas and Easter in Catholicism are important holidays for believers worldwide.
  • 天主教，。
    Zhè zuò Tiān zhǔ jiào jiào táng jiàn yú shí jiǔ shì jì, jiàn zhù fēng gé fēi cháng dú tè.
    This Catholic church was built in the 19th century and has a very unique architectural style.

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.

天主God
天tiānheaven主zhǔlord
偏正Modifier + head
教jiàoreligion

天 means heaven and 主 means lord, making 天主 refer to God; 教 means religion, so 天主教 is the religion of God.

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
大大dà
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.

Open 天 →

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.

Open 主 →

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
子子zǐchild
攵Written in full as攴pūteaching cane; stick that represents authority
Sound part声符shēngfú
爻
爻yáo教jiào
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

教 uses 爻 for its sound and puts 子 (child) with 攵 (攴), a teaching cane, to show teaching a child.

Open 教 →
Appears in
Religion & Belief

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