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敌军 (dí jūn) — enemy troops; hostile forces

Definition

noun
enemy troopshostile forces
Measure word · 股

Examples

  • 敌军。
    dí jūn Zài bàn yè fā qǐ le gōng jī.
    The enemy troops launched an attack in the middle of the night.
  • 敌军。
    Zhǐ huī guān mìng lìng shì bīng men dǐ dǎng dí jūn.
    The commander ordered the soldiers to resist the enemy forces.
  • ，敌军。
    Jīng guò sān tiān jī zhàn, dí jūn zhōng yú chè tuì le.
    After three days of fierce fighting, the enemy finally retreated.

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.

敌díenemy
军jūnarmy

The 敌 sense of enemy combines with 军 as army to mean hostile troops.

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 敵; 敌 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
攴攴pūto tap; to hit
Sound part声符shēngfú
啻
啻chì敵dí
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 敵 pairs 啻 as a sound part with 攴, a part for tapping or hitting.

Open 敌 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 軍; 军 is its simplified writing.

  • 車車jūcart; chariot
  • 勹勹bāoto surround

In the traditional form 軍, 車 shows the chariot sense, while the part now written 勹 is a sound part, not the 'surround' 勹. Simplified 军 is a later shorthand.

Open 军 →
Appears in
Military & Defense

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