黑金 (hēi jīn) — illicit political funding from organized crime; corrupt money-and-politics nexus

Definition

Literally 'black gold,' a journalistic term for illicit political funding — organized crime or shadowy money buying political influence. It is the abstract concept, not a literal metal or commodity.

noun
illicit political funding from organized crimecorrupt money-and-politics nexus

Examples

  • 黑金。
    Zhè ge guó jiā de zhèng tán shēn shòu hēi jīn yǐng xiǎng.
    This country's political scene is deeply affected by black money politics.
  • 黑金。
    Jì zhě zhèng zài diào chá hēi jīn yǔ xuǎn jǔ wǔ bì de guān xì.
    Journalists are investigating the connection between illicit political funding and election fraud.
  • 黑金。
    hēi jīn Shì mín zhǔ zhì dù miàn lín de yí dà wēi xié.
    Corrupt money in politics is a major threat to democratic institutions.

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hēiillicit or hidden
金jīnmoney

黑 gives illicit or hidden, 金 gives money; together they mean corrupt money in politics.

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.

金 was drawn with marks for two pieces of metal, along with a part that gave its sound; it first meant copper, then metals and gold.

Open 金 →

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