未成年人 (wèi chéng nián rén) — minor (person under 18 years of age)

Definition

noun

minor (person under 18 years of age)

Measure word · 个

未成年人。
Xué xiào lǎo shī bǎo hù wèi chéng nián rén de quán lì.
School teachers protect the rights of minors.
未成年人。
wèi chéng nián rén Bù néng jìn wǎng bā.
Minors cannot enter internet cafes.
未成年人。
Fù mǔ yīng gāi guān xīn wèi chéng nián rén de jiàn kāng chéng zhǎng.
Parents should care about the healthy growth of minors.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape 未 shows a tree with extra branches spreading above its trunk, like lush, overlapping limbs.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

丁

丁dīng成chéng

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

成 puts 戊, a weapon, beside 丁, which gives the sound. The weapon part relates to protection, as in the old sense of city walls.

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

禾禾héwheat; grain

Sound part声符shēngfú

人

人rén年nián

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

年 pairs 禾 (grain) with 人, which gives the sound. Its original meaning was harvest, and it later came to mean a year.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Appears in