市立 (shì lì) — municipal; city-established

Definition

市立 means 'run by the city government' (municipal), typically used before nouns for public facilities like 医院 or 图书馆 to distinguish them from private or provincial ones.

adjective
municipalcity-established
Easily confused

Examples

  • 市立。
    Wǒ men qù le shì lì yī yuàn zuò jiǎn chá.
    We went to the municipal hospital for a check-up.
  • 市立。
    shì lì Tú shū guǎn shōu cáng le hěn duō zhōng wén shū.
    The municipal library has a large collection of Chinese books.
  • 市立。
    Zhè ge shì lì gōng yuán měi tiān dōu yǒu hěn duō yóu kè.
    This municipal park has many visitors every day.

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.

市shìcity
立lìestablish

市 gives the city and 立 gives established, meaning city-established.

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
兮兮xībustling
Sound part声符shēngfú
之
之zhī市shì
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The old form 市 pairs 兮, meaning bustling, with 之, the sound part.

Open 市 →

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

立 pictures a person standing on the ground.

Open 立 →

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