革命军 (gé mìng jūn) — revolutionary army; revolutionary forces

Definition

noun
revolutionary armyrevolutionary forces
Measure word · 支

Examples

  • 革命军。
    Zhè zhī gé mìng jūn zài lì shǐ shàng hěn yǒu míng.
    This revolutionary army is very famous in history.
  • 革命军，。
    Tā jiā rù le gé mìng jūn, wèi le gǎi biàn guó jiā.
    He joined the revolutionary army to change the country.
  • 革命军。
    gé mìng jūn De lǐng dǎo rén shì rén mín xīn lǐ de yīng xióng.
    The leader of the revolutionary army is a hero in the people's hearts.

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.

革命revolution
革géchange命mìngmandate
动宾Verb + object
军jūnarmy

革 means change and 命 means mandate, making 革命 revolution; 军 is army, so revolutionary army.

Characters in this word

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

革 is drawn as a stretched animal hide, with the upper part as the head and the lower part as the tail and legs.

Open 革 →

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
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
令
令lìng命mìng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

命 combines 口, a mouth, with 令, which gives the sound.

Open 命 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 軍; 军 is its simplified writing.

  • 車車jūcart; chariot
  • 勹勹bāoto surround

In the traditional form 軍, 車 shows the chariot sense, while the part now written 勹 is a sound part, not the 'surround' 勹. Simplified 军 is a later shorthand.

Open 军 →

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