恶霸 (è bà) — local despot; bully, gangster

Definition

A local tyrant who bullies and oppresses ordinary people in a region. Implies a powerful figure with a territorial base, not just any criminal.

noun

local despotbullygangster

Measure word · 个

恶霸，。
Zhè ge cūn zi yǐ qián yǒu gè è bà, qī yā bǎi xìng.
This village used to have a local despot who oppressed the people.
恶霸。
Diàn yǐng lǐ de è bà zuì hòu bèi cūn mín gǎn zǒu le.
The bully in the movie was finally driven away by the villagers.
恶霸。
Lì shǐ shàng de è bà wǎng wǎng yǔ guān fǔ gōu jié.
In history, local despots often colluded with the government.

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.

恶 says evil and 霸 says tyrant, so 恶霸 names a cruel local bully who dominates others.

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 惡; 恶 is its simplified writing.

亞心惡

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

亞

亞yā惡è

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 惡 pairs 心 (heart) as the meaning part with 亞 (yā) as the sound part; the simplified 恶 is a later shorthand.

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

革月霸

The original form paired 革 with 月 to show changes in moonlight.

Appears in