zhízhèng (zhí·zhèng {catch; capture → [hold]} · {government → [political power]} 执政 執政) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”
[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”. 📖 📄 📘 icons mean 📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and 📘 Reveal None re all the “flashcards” in the heading, paragraph, etc. that they are placed at the beginning of.]
At the time of this writing, jw.org was featuring the article “Which Leader Will You Choose?—What Does the Bible Say?”, because, as the article says, “over the next few weeks, elections will be held in various countries around the world.”. The Mandarin version of this article uses what I think is an interesting expression in this context, this week’s MEotW “zhízhèng (zhí·zhèng {catch; capture → [hold]} · {government → [political power]} 执政 執政)”.
Related Expressions
The “zhí (catch; capture [→ [hold [in the hand]; grasp]] [→ [persist in; stick to | carry out; implement; execute; observe | direct; manage; take charge of]] 执 執)” in “zhízhèng (zhí·zhèng {catch; capture → [hold]} · {government → [political power]} 执政 執政)” has original meanings of “catch; capture”, from which are now often derived the meanings “hold [in the hand]; grasp”. It seems that these meanings in turn have led “zhí (catch; capture [→ [hold [in the hand]; grasp]] [→ [persist in; stick to | carry out; implement; execute; observe | direct; manage; take charge of]] 执 執)” to sometimes be used to effectively mean such varied things as “persist in; stick to | carry out; implement; execute; observe | direct; manage; take charge of”. Thus, “zhí (catch; capture [→ [hold [in the hand]; grasp]] [→ [persist in; stick to | carry out; implement; execute; observe | direct; manage; take charge of]] 执 執)” is a classic example of a word that has undergone what in linguistics is formally called semantic change, that is, changes in the meaning or meanings a word is used to represent.
Interestingly, in Cantonese, but apparently not in Mandarin, “zhí (catch; capture [→ [hold [in the hand]; grasp]] [→ [persist in; stick to | carry out; implement; execute; observe | direct; manage; take charge of]] 执 執)” also has a meaning of “pick up”. For example, those with Cantonese-speaking parents may have gotten used to being told to “jāp sáu méih (执手尾/執手尾)”, that is, to pick up after themselves or tidy up.
Some other Mandarin expressions that include the “zhí (catch; capture [→ [hold [in the hand]; grasp]] [→ [persist in; stick to | carry out; implement; execute; observe | direct; manage; take charge of]] 执 執)” in “zhízhèng (zhí·zhèng {catch; capture → [hold]} · {government → [political power]} 执政 執政)” are:
-
zhíbǐzhě
(zhí·bǐ·zhě
{caught → [grasped]} · pen · person → [writer]
执笔者
執筆者)
- Those who have been in the Mandarin field for a while may have seen this used, for example, in “Shīpiān (Shī·piān {Sacred Song} · {Piece of Writing} → [Psalm] 诗篇 詩篇) zhíbǐzhě (zhí·bǐ·zhě {caught → [grasped]} · pen · person → [writer] 执笔者 執筆者)”, which means “Psalm writer”, or “psalmist”.
- zhíxíng (zhí·xíng {catch → [hold; grasp] → [carry out; implement; execute]} · {go; walk; travel → [do; perform; carry out]} 执行 執行)
-
zhízhǎng
(zhí·zhǎng
{catch; capture → [hold; grasp]} · {(have in) palm (of the hand)} → [wield; be in control of]
执掌
執掌)
- An example of this expression in use can be found at Daniel 4:26.
A couple of Mandarin expressions that include the other morpheme in “zhízhèng (zhí·zhèng {catch; capture → [hold]} · {government → [political power]} 执政 執政)” are:
- zhèngfǔ (zhèng·fǔ political · {seat of government} → [government] 政府)
- zhèngzhì (zhèng·zhì {politics | political} · governing [→ [politics | political]] 政治)
Usage Examples
Here are the two examples of “zhízhèng (zhí·zhèng {catch; capture → [hold]} · {government → [political power]} 执政 執政)” being used in the above-mentioned article:
English:
Which Leader Will You Choose?
Mandarin:
📖 📄 📘 Nǐ (You 你) Huì (Will 会 會) Zhīchí (Zhī·chí Support · {Hold → [Support]} 支持) Shéi (Whom 谁 誰) Zhízhèng (Zhí·zhèng {to Capture → [to Hold]} · {Government → [Political Power]} 执政 執政)?
English:
People are making important decisions about which leaders they will choose.
Mandarin:
📖 📄 📘 Rénmen (Rén·men person · [pl] → [people] 人们 人們) jiāng ({are going to} 将 將) zuòchū (zuò·chū make · out 作出) zhòngdà (zhòng·dà weighty · big 重大) de (’s 的) juédìng (decidings → [decisions] 决定 決定): Yào ((they) must → [will] 要) xuǎn (choose 选 選) shéi (whom 谁 誰) zhízhèng (zhí·zhèng {to capture → [to hold]} · {government → [political power]} 执政 執政).
