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指派 (zhǐ pài) — to appoint; to designate; to assign

Definition

指派 means formally assigning a person to a task or role, usually by an organization or superior. 派 shares the same sense of dispatching but emphasizes sending someone to a place, while 指派 focuses on the assignment of responsibility.

verb
to appointto designateto assign

Examples

  • 指派。
    Tā bèi zhǐ pài wèi xīn de xiàng mù jīng lǐ.
    He was appointed as the new project manager.
  • 指派。
    Gōng sī zhǐ pài wǒ qù běi jīng fù zé xīn xiàng mù.
    The company assigned me to Beijing to take charge of a new project.
  • 指派。
    Zhè xiàng rèn wu yǐ jīng zhǐ pài gěi zhuān yè tuán duì le.
    This task has been assigned to a professional team.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

指zhǐdesignate
派pàidispatch

指 designate and 派 dispatch combine to mean appoint.

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
扌Written in full as手shǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
旨
旨zhǐ指zhǐ
Same sound today

The left part 扌 is the hand form 手. The right part 旨 gives the sound.

Open 指 →

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
水水shuǐwater; river
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠂢
𠂢𠂢派pài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

派 is built from 水 (water/river) and 𠂢. 𠂢 gives the sound, and 水 was added later to tell the character apart from the older form.

Open 派 →
Appears in
Management

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