权 (quán) — power; authority; right (legal or moral entitlement); (adverb, literary) temporarily; for the time being; as an expedient
Definition
权 is a literary abbreviation for 权利 ('right') and 权力 ('power') — it rarely stands alone in modern speech. The adverb sense ('temporarily, for now') is formal/written; 暂时 or 临时 are the everyday choices.
powerauthorityright (legal or moral entitlement)(adverb, literary) temporarilyfor the time beingas an expedient
Examples
- 。Fǎ lǜ bǎo zhàng měi gè rén de hé fǎ quán yì.The law protects everyone's lawful rights and interests.
- 。Zǒng jīng lǐ xiǎng bǎ gèng duō quán lì jiāo gěi bù mén jīng lǐ.The general manager wants to delegate more power to department managers.
- ，权，。Jì rán méi yǒu piào, nǐ jiù quán dāng lái wǎn le, xià cì zǎo diǎn lái.Since there's no ticket, just consider it as arriving late, and come earlier next time.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost 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 權; 权 is its simplified writing.
Sound part声符shēngfú
雚
雚guàn權quán
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.
The traditional form 權 shows 木, a tree, with 雚 giving the sound; it named a kind of tree and was used for a standard weight. The simplified 权 is a later shorthand, not the historical shape.
Appears in
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