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黑帮 (hēi bāng) — gang, organized crime syndicate; (political) reactionary clique

Definition

A criminal organization (mafia, gang, syndicate), distinct from the older political sense of 'reactionary clique.' Usually refers to organized crime groups operating in society.

noun
gangorganized crime syndicate(political) reactionary clique
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 黑帮。
    Zhè ge chéng shì yǒu jǐ gè dà de hēi bāng zài huó dòng.
    There are several big gangs operating in this city.
  • 黑帮。
    Diàn yǐng jiǎng de shì yí gè hēi bāng lǎo dà de gù shi.
    The movie tells the story of a gang boss.
  • 黑帮。
    Zhèng fǔ yán lì dǎ jī hēi bāng shì lì.
    The government cracks down hard on gang forces.

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.

黑hēiblack, sinister
帮bānggang

黑 'black, sinister' plus 帮 'gang' gives a sinister gang.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 黑 seems to come from drawing a head marked with dots, usually read as facial tattoos.

Open 黑 →

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 幫; 帮 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
帛帛bósilk
Sound part声符shēngfú
封
封fēng幫bāng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 帮's traditional form 幫, 帛 (silk) gives the meaning and 封 gives the sound; it originally named the upper part of a shoe.

Open 帮 →
Appears in
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