noun HSK 6 #3,293

Meanings

  1. 1 race; nationality; clan
  2. 2 ethnic group

Examples

Zhōngguó yǒu wǔ shí liù gè mínzú.
China has 56 ethnic groups.
Tā shì Huízú rén.
He is of the Hui ethnic group.
Shàngbānzú yālì hěn dà.
Office workers are under a lot of pressure.

Tips

usage
is used in: 民族 (ethnic group/nationality), 家族 (family clan), 种族 (race). Modern slang uses as a suffix for social groups: 上班族 (office workers), 月光族 (moonlight clan — people who spend all their salary).

Components

radical
fāng
square; banner-pole
Left — here it doubles as the indexing radical AND the top of a historical 㫃 'flag' graphic wrapping right. Originally pictured an arrow under a clan banner: people who fought beneath one flag. Family: (flag), (band), (wheel), (side).
semantic
shǐ
arrow (with fused flag-stroke)
Right side covers 7 strokes but standalone is 5 — upper 2 are a fused remnant of the flag-flapping graphic 㫃. Bottom is the clean arrow pictograph. With , the picture is an arrow tucked under a banner — the warrior-clan image at the heart of .

Stroke Order