建筑业 (jiàn zhù yè) — building industry; construction industry

Definition

noun
building industryconstruction industry
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • ，建筑业。
    Jìn shí nián lái, jiàn zhù yè fā zhǎn dé fēi cháng kuài.
    In the past ten years, the construction industry has developed very quickly.
  • 。
    Wǒ gē ge zài jiàn zhù yè gōng zuò.
    My older brother works in the building industry.
  • 建筑业。
    jiàn zhù yè Duì chéng shì fā zhǎn yǒu zhòng yào yǐng xiǎng.
    The construction industry has a significant impact on urban development.

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.

建筑construction
建jiànconstruct筑zhùbuild
联合Side by side
业yèindustry

“建筑” means construction and “业” means industry, giving the construction industry.

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 築; 筑 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
木木mùwood
Sound part声符shēngfú
筑
筑zhù築zhù
Same sound today

The traditional form 築 pairs 木 (wood) with 筑, which gives the sound; the simplified 筑 is a later shorthand.

Open 筑 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 業; 业 is its simplified writing.

  • 丵丵zhuóchisel
  • 大大dàperson; big

The traditional 業 is explained as a picture of a beam from which bells and chimes hang, or as a person lifting that beam. The simplified 业 is a shorthand, not the original shape.

Open 业 →

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