赤贫 (chì pín) — destitute; extremely poor

Definition

A literary, written term meaning 'utter destitution' — stronger than 贫困 (HSK 6), with no specific country connotation (unlike 第三世界的贫困). Used in formal writing and reports.

verb
destituteextremely poor

Examples

  • ，赤贫。
    Zhàn luàn zhī hòu, nà ge dì qū xiàn rù le chì pín.
    After the war, that region fell into utter destitution.
  • 赤贫，。
    Tā suī rán chū shēn chì pín, dàn tōng guò nǔ lì chéng wéi le yí dài dà jiā.
    Although he came from an extremely poor background, he became a great master through hard work.
  • 赤贫。
    Fú pín zhèng cè jí dà dì gǎi shàn le chì pín rén kǒu de shēng huó.
    Poverty alleviation policies have greatly improved the lives of the destitute population.

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.

赤chìbare
贫pínpoor

赤 expresses bare or utter, and 贫 expresses poverty.

Characters in this word

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

赤 is a stylized form showing 大 (a person) and 火 (fire), depicting a person by a fire.

Open 赤 →

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 貧; 贫 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèimoney
Sound part声符shēngfú
分
分fēn貧pín
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 貧 has 分 above 貝, a money part. 分 gives the sound and means 'divide', giving the image of dividing one's money; the simplified 贫 is a later shorthand.

Open 贫 →

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