TongTong
Sign in

建国 (jiàn guó) — to found a state; to establish a country

Definition

建国 means 'to found/establish a country' — a formal, written word for creating a new state, common in political and historical contexts (e.g. 建国后 'after the founding of the nation').

verb
to found a stateto establish a country

Examples

  • 建国。
    Xǔ duō rén wéi jiàn guó fù chū le shēng mìng.
    Many people gave their lives to found the state.
  • ，。
    Nà nián, tā men zhōng yú jiàn le guó.
    That year, they finally founded the state.
  • 。
    Jiàn yí cì guó xū yào hěn duō zhǔn bèi.
    Founding a state requires a lot of preparation.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

建jiànestablish
国guócountry

建 means to establish and 国 means country, so the word pictures establishing a country.

Characters in this word

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

  • 廴廴yǐn
  • 聿聿yù

The shape 建 shows 廴 and 聿, but it comes from an older drawing of a hand planting a pole into a base; the lower part of 聿 is not a brush.

Open 建 →

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 國; 国 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
囗囗wéiclosure
Sound part声符shēngfú
或
或huò國guó
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 國 uses 囗 to show closure and 或 to give the sound.

Open 国 →
Appears in
Government & Politics

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.