首富 (shǒu fù) — the richest person (in a region, country, etc.)

Definition

A compound noun meaning 'the wealthiest person in a region or country'. 首 means 'first/foremost' and 富人 means 'rich person'. The first character distinguishes it from a generic rich person (富人).

noun
the richest person (in a region, country, etc.)
Measure word · 个
Easily confused

Examples

  • 首富。
    Tā jīn nián chéng wéi le zhōng guó shǒu fù.
    He became the richest person in China this year.
  • 首富。
    Shì jiè shǒu fù de cái fù yì zhí zài biàn huà.
    The wealth of the world's richest person is always changing.
  • 首富。
    Zhè ge jiā zú céng jīng shì dāng dì de shǒu fù.
    This family was once the richest in the area.

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.

首shǒufirst
富fùrich

首 means first and 富 means rich; together they name the first among the rich.

Characters in this word

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

The shape comes from an old drawing of an animal's head, showing a long mouth and horns; the version with hair became 首.

Open 首 →

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
宀宀mián
Sound part声符shēngfú
畐
畐fú富fù
Same sound today

富 pairs 宀, a roof-shaped part, with 畐, which gives the sound fú.

Open 富 →

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