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零售业 (líng shòu yè) — retail industry, retail business

Definition

noun
retail industryretail business

Examples

  • ，零售业。
    Jìn nián lái, líng shòu yè de fā zhǎn fēi cháng xùn sù.
    In recent years, the retail industry has developed very rapidly.
  • 零售业，。
    Tā zài líng shòu yè gōng zuò le shí duō nián, jīng yàn fēng fù.
    He has worked in the retail business for over ten years and is very experienced.
  • 零售业。
    Diàn shāng duì chuán tǒng líng shòu yè de chōng jī hěn dà.
    E-commerce has had a huge impact on traditional retail.

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.

零售retail
零língsmall售shòusell
偏正Modifier + head
业yèbusiness

零售 means selling in small quantities and 业 means business; together they name a retail business.

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
雨雨yǔrain
Sound part声符shēngfú
令
令lìng零líng
Same sound today

In 零, the 雨 part depicts thick raindrops falling from the sky; the 令 part gives the sound.

Open 零 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 售 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 業; 业 is its simplified writing.

  • 丵丵zhuóchisel
  • 大大dàperson; big

The traditional 業 is explained as a picture of a beam from which bells and chimes hang, or as a person lifting that beam. The simplified 业 is a shorthand, not the original shape.

Open 业 →
Appears in
Business & Commerce

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