政坛 (zhèng tán) — political circles; the political arena | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

political circlesthe political arena

Examples

政坛。
Tā nián qīng shí jìn rù le zhèng tán.
He entered political circles when he was young.
政坛。
Zuì jìn zhèng tán shàng yǒu hěn duō guān yú gǎi gé de tǎo lùn.
Recently there has been a lot of discussion about reform in political circles.
政坛。
Zhè wèi jì zhě zhuān mén bào dào zhèng tán xīn wén.
This journalist specializes in reporting on political circles news.

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.

政zhèngpolitics

坛tánarena/platform

政 (politics) + 坛 (platform/arena) forms the metaphorical arena of politics.

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

攴攴pūaction

Sound part声符shēngfú

正

正zhèng政zhèng

Same sound today

政 combines 正, which gives the sound, with 攴, an action-related part.

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 壇; 坛 is its simplified writing.

土亶壇

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

亶

亶dǎn壇tán

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 壇 pairs 土 (earth) with 亶 as a sound component; the simplified 坛 is a later shorthand.

Appears in

Government & Politics

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