选民

xuǎnmín · HSK 7

voter

选民 — voter

🗳️ 选民 = 选 choose + 民 people = the people who choose, i.e. voters

选 means to select or elect; 民 means the people or citizens. Stack them and you get the citizens who do the selecting: the electorate, the voters, the constituents.

选 — 辶 walk + 巽 (xùn, phonetic)
选 combines the walking radical 辶 with 巽, which suggests the sound. The original sense relates to going through or passing by, extended to 'picking out' or 'choosing' from a group. The simplified form replaces the older 選.

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