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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

警察

jǐngchá
police; police force
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 5

Etymology graph

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Origin

The modern sense of "police" is wasei kango (和(わ)製(せい)漢(かん)語(ご)), orthographically borrowed from Japanese 警(けい)察(さつ) (keisatsu).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • borrowedJapanese警
  • characterChinese警 “to warn; to admonish”
    • soundChinese敬 “to respect; to honor”
      • ideaChinese茍 “to be circumspect or cautious in one's behaviour”
        • ideaChinese羊 “caprid (e.g. sheep, goat, antelope, etc.) (Classifier: 隻／只 m c)”
        • ideaChinese卩 “kneeling person”
      • ideaChinese攴 “to hit lightly; to tap”
    • meaningChinese言 “to say; to speak; to talk”
  • characterChinese察 “to examine; to investigate; to notice”
    • meaningChinese宀 “a type of deep house with walls on all four sides, a roof, a main hall, and back rooms”
    • soundChinese祭 “to make offerings to; to sacrifice to; to worship”
      • ideaChinese肉 “meat; flesh”
      • ideaChinese又 “again; once more”
      • ideaChinese示 “to show; to reveal; to indicate; to notify; to instruct”

Meanings

noun
  1. police; police force
  2. police officer (Classifier: 名; 位)
  3. one needlessly strict; Nazi
verb
  1. to be vigilant; to be alert; to watch out
  2. to examine oneself critically; to examine one's thoughts and conduct
  3. to supervise; to monitor

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 依法以維持公共秩序、保護社會安寧、促進人民福利為主要任務的人。 例：警察打擊犯罪，保護民眾安全，可說是人民的保母。

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

Sources

  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 警察