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篇章 (piān zhāng) — sections and chapters (of a book); (literary) piece of writing, work; (linguistics) discourse, text

Definition

Literary/formal term for the 'sections, chapters, and whole pieces' of a written work — more elevated than everyday words for a piece of writing (e.g. 文章). Also used in linguistics for 'discourse / text' as a unit of analysis.

noun
sections and chapters (of a book)(literary) piece of writingwork(linguistics) discoursetext
Measure word · 篇

Examples

  • 篇章。
    Zhè běn shū yóu xǔ duō piān zhāng zǔ chéng.
    This book consists of many chapters.
  • 篇章。
    Tā de zhè piān piān zhāng xiě dé fēi cháng hǎo.
    This piece of writing of his is very well written.
  • 篇章。
    piān zhāng Yǔ yán xué shì yán jiū yǔ yán jié gòu de xué kē.
    Discourse linguistics is the discipline that studies the structure of language.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

篇piānsection
章zhāngchapter

篇 and 章 both refer to parts of a text, so together they mean sections, chapters, or a piece of writing.

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
竹竹zhú
Sound part声符shēngfú
扁
扁biǎn篇piān
Same sound today

篇 combines 竹 with 扁: 竹 is the part tied to the meaning, and 扁 is the part used for the sound.

Open 篇 →

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

章 shows a chisel piercing a piece of jade in the middle. It originally meant treating jade.

Open 章 →
Appears in
Reading & Writing

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