Today in our classes, we had middle and high schoolers who spontaneously talked about the election (in 80% Mandarin :) , and some students joined the class after having followed their parents to vote.
What's the Chinese word for "election"? Students asked.
ELECTION = 选举 xuǎn jǔ
When breaking down the word for students, it suddenly dawned on me that never in my life, I thought of this word as a compound word.
选 xuǎn = select
e.g., 选西瓜 xuǎn xīguā [select a watermelon]，选对象 xuǎn duì xiàng [select a partner/spouse]
举 jǔ = raise, hold up
e.g., 举头 Jǔ tóu [raise one's head/look up - think about “举头望明月Jǔ tóu wàng míng yuè” the famous Tang poet Li Bai's famous line]
举手 Jǔ shǒu [raise one's hand - think about what your teacher told you when you tried to speak up in class]
So Chinese coined "election" as you select someone and hold up that person. Isn't that interesting? There are endless compound words like this in Chinese. How fun!
Let's also add "vote" to the list for tonight.
VOTE = 投票 tóu piào
投 tóu = throw object A into/toward object B
投球 tóu qiú [to pitch the ball; to shoot a basketball]
投信 tóu xìn [to mail a letter]
票 piào = a ticket
飞机票 fēi jī piào = flight ticket
门票 mén piào = entrance ticket
So to vote is to pitch or throw in your ticket/ballot into the ballot box.
There are endless compound words like this in Chinese. How fun! Hope you'll have many opportunities to encounter them and enjoy them as much as I do!
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