Kilo Lingo

(zǒng tǒng) - president (of a country) in Mandarin

zǒngtǒng

Traditional: 總統

Line drawing of 总统
Coloured illustration of 总统
HSK 5
#612 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

president (of a country)

Word origin

A two-character compound meaning president. 总 (zǒng) means general or overall, and 统 (tǒng) means to govern, unify or a connected system; together they convey the one who governs as a whole. 统 is a phono-semantic compound of the 纟silk radical with 充 (chōng) as the phonetic.

Origin
compound
Root
总 (zǒng, general / overall) + 统 (tǒng, to govern / unify)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 总

Stroke order for 统

Examples

He was elected president.

gōng

The US president lives in the White House.

The new president has taken office.

The president gave a speech yesterday.

The president met the people yesterday.

总统 (zǒng tǒng) specifically means president as the head of state in a republic. 总 means general or overall and 统 means to govern or unify. China uses 主席 (zhǔ xí, chairman) for its head of state, while 总统 is used for presidents of the USA, France, Taiwan, and other republics. The term 总理 (zǒng lǐ, premier or prime minister) is a related government title.

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This word is part of lesson 13.