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新建 (Xīn jiàn) — newly built; newly established

Definition

adjective
newly builtnewly established

Examples

  • 新建。
    Zhè shì yí zuò Xīn jiàn de dà lóu.
    This is a newly built building.
  • 新建。
    Xīn jiàn De wǎng zhàn gōng néng gèng wán shàn.
    The newly established website has more complete features.
  • 新建。
    Wǒ men zhù jìn le Xīn jiàn de shè qū.
    We moved into a newly built community.

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.

新xīnnew
建jiànbuild

新 new and 建 build combine to mean recently built or established.

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.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
斤斤jīn
Sound part声符shēngfú
辛
辛xīn新xīn
Same sound today

The shape originally paired 斤, for chopping wood, with 辛 for sound. It was borrowed for its sound to write 新, so the chopping-wood parts are unrelated to 'new'.

Open 新 →

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

  • 廴廴yǐn
  • 聿聿yù

The shape 建 shows 廴 and 聿, but it comes from an older drawing of a hand planting a pole into a base; the lower part of 聿 is not a brush.

Open 建 →
Appears in
Buildings & StructuresChange & Process

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