天兵 (tiān bīng) — (mythology) heavenly troops; divine army sent from heaven; (figurative) invincible army; unbeatable force (often used to praise military might)

Definition

A literary, often mythological term for 'heavenly troops' — divine soldiers sent from the sky to fight evil or protect the people (as in 天兵下凡). Figuratively used to praise a force as invincible.

noun
(mythology) heavenly troopsdivine army sent from heaven(figurative) invincible armyunbeatable force (often used to praise military might)
Easily confused

Examples

  • ，天兵。
    Chuán shuō zhōng, tiān bīng xià fán bāng zhù bǎi xìng dǎ bài le yāo guài.
    According to legend, heavenly troops descended to help the people defeat the monsters.
  • ，天兵。
    Zhè zhī jūn duì zhàn wú bú shèng, jiǎn zhí rú tóng tiān bīng yì bān.
    This army is invincible, as if it were heavenly troops.
  • 天兵。
    Xiǎo shuō lǐ miáo xiě le tiān bīng yǔ yāo mó dà zhàn de zhuàng guān chǎng miàn.
    The novel depicts the spectacular scene of heavenly troops battling demons.

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tiānheaven
兵bīngsoldiers

天 means heaven, and 兵 means soldiers, together naming heavenly troops.

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 →

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

  • 斤斤jīna short axe
  • 廾廾gǒng2 hands

兵 combines 斤, a short axe, with 廾, two hands, showing a pair of hands holding a weapon.

Open 兵 →

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