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官司 (guān si) — lawsuit

Definition

官司 refers to the lawsuit itself — the legal case or dispute — not the institution. Compare 法庭 (the court where it's heard) and 诉讼 (the act of litigating).

noun
lawsuit
Measure word · 场

Examples

  • 官司。
    Tā wèi le zhè jiàn shì dǎ le yì chǎng guān si.
    He filed a lawsuit over this matter.
  • 官司。
    Zhè chǎng guān si guān xì dào gōng sī de shēng yù.
    This lawsuit concerns the company's reputation.
  • 官司。
    Wǒ men xiǎng jǐn kuài jiě jué zhè chǎng guān si.
    We want to resolve this lawsuit as soon as possible.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

  • 宀宀mián
  • 𠂤𠂤𠂤

官 pairs 宀, a roof, with 𠂤, rooms beneath it, to depict an official building.

Open 官 →

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

The evidence is inconclusive: one suggestion sees 司 as a mouth giving orders beside a mark of authority, another reads that mark as a hand, and another sees it as a reversed older form.

Open 司 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Law & Justice5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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