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私有 (sī yǒu) — (verb) to privately own; to hold as private property

Definition

私有 (sīyǒu) means 'privately owned' and focuses on ownership/property rights. Contrast with 私营 (privately operated/managed as a business) and 私立 (privately run institutions like schools or hospitals).

verb
to privately ownto hold as private property

Examples

  • 私有。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī shì sī yǒu de.
    This company is privately owned.
  • 私有。
    Tā sī yǒu le nà kuài tǔ dì.
    He privately owned that piece of land.
  • 私有。
    Zhè ge guó jiā yǔn xǔ tǔ dì sī yǒu.
    This country allows private ownership of land.

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.

私sīprivate
有yǒuhave

私 means private and 有 means to have or own, so 私有 means to hold something as private property.

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
禾禾hé
Sound part声符shēngfú
厶
厶sī私sī
Same sound today

私 combines 禾 and 厶; 厶 originally represented the word, and 禾 was added later.

Open 私 →

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
肉肉ròumeat
Sound part声符shēngfú
又
又yòu有yǒu
Same sound today

The form 有 combines 又, used for its sound, with a shape from 肉, 'meat'; the hand-holding-meat story is a folk explanation, not shown in the oldest shape.

Open 有 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Business & CommerceLaw & Justice

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