Kilo Lingo

(jǐng jú) - police station, police bureau in Mandarin

jǐng

Traditional: 警局

#2222 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

police station, police bureau

Word origin

A shortening of 警察局, keeping 警 (jǐng, police or to warn) and 局 (jú, bureau or office).

Origin
compound
Root
警 (jǐng, police, to warn) + 局 (jú, bureau)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 警

Stroke order for 局

Examples

He was taken to the police station.

kǒu

The police station is at the junction ahead.

We went to the police station to give a statement.

The police station is particularly busy today.

She has worked at the police station for ten years.

警局 (jǐng jú) is the police station, clipped from the fuller 警察局 (jǐng chá jú). Both are correct; the short form dominates in speech and in subtitles, which is why it ranks so high in film dialogue.

Note the tone change. 警 is a third tone and 局 is a second, so no sandhi applies and you say it exactly as written: low dip, then rise. Learners who have drilled 你好 sometimes flatten the first syllable out of habit.

On the mainland the local station you would actually walk into is often called 派出所 (pài chū suǒ), the neighbourhood police post, with 警局 covering the larger bureau. In everyday conversation and in translated crime drama, though, 警局 is the safe general word.

Where this fits

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Mandarin · Free printables

警局: worksheet, infographic and listicle

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This word is part of lesson 45.