知情人 (zhī qíng rén) — insider; person in the know

Definition

An insider — someone with direct, first-hand knowledge of a situation, often an event or secret. Distinguished from outside observers by privileged access to the facts.

noun

insiderperson in the know

Measure word · 个

Examples

知情人。
Tā shì zhè jiā gōng sī de zhī qíng rén.
He is an insider at this company.
知情人。
Zhǐ yǒu zhī qíng rén cái néng zhī dào zhè ge mì mì.
Only insiders can know this secret.
知情人，。
Zuò wéi zhī qíng rén, tā tòu lù le hěn duō nèi mù.
As an insider, he revealed a lot of inside information.

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.

知情know the situation

知zhīknow情qíngsituation

动宾Verb + object

人rénperson

知 means to know, 情 means situation, and 人 means person; together they mean a person who knows the facts.

Characters in this word

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

大大dàadult
口口kǒumouth
子子zǐchild

An early form of 知 showed 大 (adult), 口 (mouth), and 子 (child): an adult speaking to a child to pass on knowledge. The 子 part was dropped, and the 大 part changed shape.

Open 知 →

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

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

青

青qīng情qíng

Same sound today

情 shows 心 (heart) beside 青, which gives the sound. The heart part points to feelings and inner states.

Open 情 →

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.