狱警 (yù jǐng) — prison guard | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

prison guard

Measure word · 个

Examples

狱警。
Nà wèi yù jǐng měi tiān zǎo shàng dōu lái jiǎn chá.
That prison guard comes to inspect every morning.
狱警，。
Wǒ gē ge shì yì míng yù jǐng, yǐ jīng gōng zuò le shí nián.
My older brother is a prison guard and has worked for ten years.
狱警，。
yù jǐng De gōng zuò hěn zhòng yào, xū yào fēi cháng xì xīn.
The work of a prison guard is very important and requires great care.

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.

狱yùprison

警jǐngpolice

狱 points to a prison, and 警 to police, giving the sense of prison police.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 獄; 狱 is its simplified writing.

㹜㹜㹜two dogs
言言yánwords

The traditional form 獄 pairs 㹜 (two dog forms) with 言 (words), showing dogs barking at each other in a jail with guard dogs. The simplified 狱 is a later shorthand.

Open 狱 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

敬言警

Meaning part形符xíngfú

言言yánspoken language, speech

Sound part声符shēngfú

敬

敬jìng警

Same sound today

警 places 言 (speech) below 敬; 敬 gives the sound.

Open 警 →

Appears in