About
The character for village, "村", traces its etymology to an earlier form written as "邨", which integrated the semantic components of "屯", conveying a sense of gathering or storage, and "邑", indicating a settlement or inhabited area, together defining a small communal living space. This earlier structure gradually shifted to the contemporary "村", where the element "木", meaning wood or tree, evokes the natural, often forested settings of such places, while "寸", originally a unit of measurement, functions primarily as a phonetic component yet carries connotations of a defined or demarcated area. The evolution from a character emphasizing human congregation to one highlighting the physical environment mirrors broader shifts in the conceptualization of rural communities. Semantically, the term initially referred specifically to small, rustic hamlets but over centuries expanded in scope to denote any village-sized settlement and, in modern contexts, can even refer to certain administrative or residential districts, all while retaining its fundamental association with a clustered human dwelling place.
Example Sentences Hide
我住在农村。
这个村庄有五百人。
村民们喜欢种田。
村口有一棵大树。
昨天我去了村里。
农村的生活很朴素。
这个村子比那个村子大。
为了发展经济，村里引进了新技术。