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战后 (zhàn hòu) — postwar period; after the war

Definition

noun
postwar periodafter the war

Examples

  • 战后，。
    zhàn hòu, Zhè ge guó jiā kāi shǐ le chóng jiàn.
    After the war, this country began reconstruction.
  • 战后。
    zhàn hòu De jīng jì huī fù xū yào shí jiān.
    Postwar economic recovery takes time.
  • 战后。
    Hěn duō rén zài zhàn hòu cái huí dào jiā xiāng.
    Many people only returned to their hometown after the war.

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.

战zhànwar
后hòuafter

战 denotes war and 后 denotes the time following it, together meaning the postwar period.

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
戈戈gē
Sound part声符shēngfú
占
占zhàn战zhàn
Same sound today

战 pairs 占, which gives its sound, with 戈, a weapon.

Open 战 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 後; 后 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 後 showed 夊 (foot) bound by 幺 (thread), a foot caught by a rope and lagging behind; the simplified 后 is a later abbreviation, and 后 also has a different meaning.

Open 后 →
Appears in
Military & Defense

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