社里 (shè lǐ) — the office; the agency; one's work unit

Definition

A contraction of the agency / office you work at, used casually as shorthand. Contrast with 单位的 which is more formal or refers to a larger organization.

noun
the officethe agencyone's work unit
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 社里。
    shè lǐ Jīn tiān yǒu gè zhòng yào huì yì.
    The office has an important meeting today.
  • 社里。
    Tā měi tiān zǎo zǎo jiù qù shè lǐ le.
    He goes to the office very early every day.
  • 社里。
    shè lǐ Jué dìng zhè ge xiàng mù yóu nǐ fù zé.
    The agency has decided that you will be in charge of this project.

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.

社shèagency
里lǐinside

社 (agency) and 里 (inside) combine to mean the inside of the agency, i.e. the office.

Characters in this word

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

社 joins 示 (god; deity) and 土 (soil), so its shape is about the god of the land.

Open 社 →

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 裡; 里 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 里 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (里, 里面) it is 裡; in others (公里) it is 里 or 裏.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
衤Written in full as衣yīclothes
Sound part声符shēngfú
里
里lǐ裡lǐ
Same sound today

The form 裡 pairs 衤 (clothes) with 里 as a sound component.

Open 里 →

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