物证 (wù zhèng) — material evidence; physical evidence | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

物证 is 'material/physical evidence' — tangible objects presented in court. It is a specific subtype of 证据, which covers all kinds of evidence (testimony, documents, etc.).

noun

material evidencephysical evidence

Measure word · 件

Examples

物证。
Fǎ tíng shàng chū shì le wù zhèng.
The material evidence was presented in court.
物证。
Lǜ shī duì wù zhèng de zhēn shí xìng tí chū le zhì yí.
The lawyer questioned the authenticity of the physical evidence.
物证。
Zhè ge wù zhèng zhí jiē zhèng míng le xián yí rén de zuì xíng.
This piece of material evidence directly proves the suspect's crime.

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.

物wùphysical object

证zhèngevidence

物 names the physical object and 证 names evidence, so the word means material proof.

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.

牛勿物

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

勿

勿wù物wù

Same sound today

物 puts 牛 beside 勿: 牛 gives the meaning, and 勿 gives the sound.

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 證; 证 is its simplified writing.

言登證

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

登

登dēng證zhèng

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

The traditional form 證 pairs 言, a words/speech part, with 登 as a sound clue; the simplified 证 is a later shorthand.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Law & Justice

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