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插队 (chā duì) — to jump a queue, to cut in line; (historical, PRC) to go and settle in a production brigade in the countryside (during the Cultural Revolution)

Definition

Two unrelated meanings: the everyday 'to cut in line' (verb–object, split as 插了队/插过一次队), and the historical sense of being sent to a countryside production brigade during the Cultural Revolution.

verb
to jump a queueto cut in line(historical, PRC) to go and settle in a production brigade in the countryside (during the Cultural Revolution)

Examples

  • ，。
    Tā chā le duì, dà jiā dōu hěn bù gāo xìng.
    He cut in line, and everyone was very unhappy.
  • 插队！
    Qǐng bú yào chā duì!
    Please don't cut in line!
  • 插队。
    Tā nián qīng shí chā duì qù le nóng cūn.
    When he was young, he went to the countryside to join a production brigade.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

插chāinsert
队duìqueue

插 puts someone into 队, as if cutting into a line.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 插 →

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 隊; 队 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阜阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
㒸
㒸㒸隊duì
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 隊 has 阜 as the meaning part and 㒸 as the sound part.

Open 队 →
Appears in
HistorySociety & Public Life

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