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太保 (tài bǎo) — (historical title) Grand Guardian, a senior advisor to the emperor in ancient China; (colloquial) young delinquent, hooligan (often referring to unruly youth)

Definition

Historically, 太保 (tàibǎo) was the Grand Guardian, a senior tutor-advisor to the emperor. In modern colloquial use it means a young hooligan or delinquent — unrelated in meaning to the historical title.

noun
(historical title) Grand Guardian, a senior advisor to the emperor in ancient China(colloquial) young delinquenthooligan (often referring to unruly youth)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 太保。
    Zhè wèi tài bǎo zài cháo tíng zhōng de dì wèi jí gāo.
    This Grand Guardian held an extremely high position in the imperial court.
  • 太保。
    Nà ge tài bǎo yòu zài jiē shàng dǎ jià nào shì le.
    That young delinquent is out on the street fighting and causing trouble again.
  • 太保。
    Jiā zhǎng men duì zhè xiē tài bǎo de xíng wéi fēi cháng dān yōu.
    Parents are very worried about the behavior of these young hooligans.

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.

太tàigrand
保bǎoguardian

“太” adds grandness to “保” meaning guardian, forming the title Grand Guardian.

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.

太 is a modified form of 大, with an extra dot added to show 'too big'.

Open 太 →

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

保 originally showed a person 人 carrying a child 子 on their back, which led to the sense of protecting.

Open 保 →
Appears in
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