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特长 (tè cháng) — specialty, strong point, special skill

Definition

特长 is a personal skill you're good at, like coding or cooking — a stronger, more concrete ability than 长处 (a general good point) and more personal than 专业 (a field of study).

noun
specialtystrong pointspecial skill

Examples

  • 特长。
    Měi gè rén dōu yǒu zì jǐ de tè cháng.
    Everyone has their own strong points.
  • 特长，。
    Tā de tè cháng shì xiě dài mǎ, bú shì zuò shè jì.
    His specialty is coding, not design.
  • 特长。
    Gōng sī zhāo pìn shí hěn kàn zhòng yìng pìn zhě de tè cháng.
    Companies value applicants' special skills when recruiting.

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.

特tèspecial
长chángstrength

特 and 长 combine: a special strength is a personal strong point.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
牛牛niúox
Sound part声符shēngfú
寺
寺sì特tè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape combines 牛 (ox) with 寺, which gives the pronunciation; it originally meant a large bull.

Open 特 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 長; 长 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 長 pictures an old man with long hair. The simplified 长 is a later shorthand, so its strokes do not show that original picture.

Open 长 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6HSK 2.0 Level 6Abstract Concepts

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