自由党 (zì yóu dǎng) — liberal party (political party advocating liber…

Definition

noun

liberal party (political party advocating liberal policies)

Measure word · 个

自由党。
Tā jiā rù le zì yóu dǎng.
He joined the liberal party.
自由党。
zì yóu dǎng Zài xuǎn jǔ zhōng yíng dé le shèng lì.
The liberal party won the election.
自由党。
Zhè ge guó jiā de zì yóu dǎng zhǔ zhāng jīng jì gǎi gé.
The liberal party in this country advocates economic reform.

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.

自由liberal

偏正Modifier + head

自 and 由 suggest self-directed choice, and 党 names the party built around that idea.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

自 originally drew a nose. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write 自, so the picture and the meaning are unrelated.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

It began as a drawing of new shoots or leaves growing upward from a plant-like base.

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

儿儿érhuman

Sound part声符shēngfú

尚

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

党 pairs 尚, giving its sound, with 儿, a human.

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