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总司令 (zǒng sī lìng) — commander-in-chief

Definition

noun
commander-in-chief

Examples

  • 总司令。
    Tā céng jīng dān rèn guò zǒng sī lìng.
    He once served as the commander-in-chief.
  • 总司令。
    zǒng sī lìng Xià dá le jìn gōng de mìng lìng.
    The commander-in-chief issued the order to attack.
  • 总司令。
    Zhè wèi zǒng sī lìng zài jūn duì zhōng wēi xìn hěn gāo.
    This commander-in-chief has high prestige in the army.

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.

总zǒngoverall
司令commander
司sīmanage令lìngorder
动宾Verb + object

总 means overall, 司令 means one who manages orders; together denote the supreme commander.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 總; 总 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糸糸mìrope
Sound part声符shēngfú
悤
悤cōng總zǒng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 總 has 糸, a rope, and 悤 as a sound part; the rope part is for binding together. This account is for 總, not for 总.

Open 总 →

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 →

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

  • 亼亼jí
  • 卩卩jié

In 令, the upper 亼 is an open mouth and the lower 卩 is a kneeling person, together showing someone giving orders.

Open 令 →
Appears in
Military & DefenseProfessions & Jobs

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