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太监 (tài jiàn) — (historical) court eunuch; palace eunuch serving in imperial China

Definition

A historical term for a castrated male servant who worked in the imperial Chinese palace. A purely historical/period concept — not used for modern contexts.

noun
(historical) court eunuchpalace eunuch serving in imperial China
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • ，太监。
    Zài míng qīng shí qī, tài jiàn zài huáng gōng zhōng dān rèn zhòng yào zhí wù.
    During the Ming and Qing dynasties, court eunuchs served important roles in the imperial palace.
  • 太监。
    Zhè wèi tài jiàn yīn wèi zhōng chéng ér shòu dào le huáng dì de xìn rèn.
    This court eunuch gained the emperor's trust because of his loyalty.
  • 太监。
    Zhè bù diàn shì jù lǐ yǒu hěn duō tài jiàn de jué sè.
    This TV series has many eunuch characters.

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tàigreat
监jiānsupervisor

The name for a high court attendant is built from “太” (great) and “监” (supervisor).

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 監; 监 is its simplified writing.

  • 臥臥wòa person with an emphasized eye
  • 皿皿mǐncontainer

The traditional form 監 shows 臥, a person with an emphasized eye, looking into 皿, a container; the simplified 监 is a later shorthand.

Open 监 →
Appears in
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