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工人阶级 (gōng rén jiē jí) — working class; proletariat

Definition

Refers to the social class of wage-earning workers — usually translated 'working class', with strong Marxist/political connotations in Chinese political writing. The 'proletariat' sense is the standard reading at this level.

noun
working classproletariat

Examples

  • 工人阶级。
    gōng rén jiē jí Shì guó jiā de lǐng dǎo jiē jí.
    The working class is the leading class of the country.
  • 工人阶级。
    Wǒ men yào wéi hù gōng rén jiē jí de hé fǎ quán yì.
    We must protect the legitimate rights and interests of the working class.
  • 工人阶级。
    gōng rén jiē jí Zài shè huì zhǔ yì xiàn dài huà jiàn shè zhōng fā huī le jù dà zuò yòng.
    The working class has played a huge role in the socialist modernization drive.

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.

工人worker
工gōngwork; labor人rénperson
偏正Modifier + head
阶级class; rank
阶jiēstep; rank级jígrade; rank
联合Coordinate

工人 means workers, while 阶级 means a rank or class, so the phrase names the class of workers.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 工 is a picture of a bladed tool used to plow ground or mark a border; some read it as a carpenter's square.

Open 工 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 階; 阶 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阝Written in full as阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
皆
皆jiē階jiē
Same sound today

The traditional form 階 uses 阝 (written in full as 阜) to relate to its meaning and 皆 to show its sound; the simplified 阶 is a later shorthand, so its right side is not the old sound part.

Open 阶 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 級; 级 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糹Written in full as糸mìthread
Sound part声符shēngfú
及
及jí級jí
Same sound today

The traditional form 級 has 糹 (thread) and 及 as a sound part; its original sense was a sequence related to silk. The simplified 级 is a later shorthand.

Open 级 →
Appears in
Groups & OrganizationsSociety & Public Life

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