<p>Hear is my understanding, based partly in Archie Barnes' book <em>Chinese through Poetry</em>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For a few words like 君主, 君王 and 帝王, I can't figure out the semantic relationship.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I think these compounds have a relationship that was originally one of apposition, comparable to the English phrase &quot;my lord and master.&quot;  Like English, these phrases are formally ambiguous as to whether they refer to two different aspects of one individual or to two entirely separate individuals.</p>
<p>Unlike English, Classical Chinese (and modern Chinese still to some extant) does not require an equivalent of &quot;and&quot; or &quot;or&quot; to join words of a similar class in a group and simply juxtaposes them.  Words like 君主 imply a relationship something like &quot;lord/master&quot; or &quot;lord and/or master.&quot;</p>
<p>It is, of course, possible that the first term modifies the second term; however, I do not think this is the normal interpretation when the two terms are seen as being members of the same semantic class.  Also, even with apposition, the meaning of the first term interacts with the meaning of the second.</p>
<p>A clearer example might be the expression 山水.  Although in appropriate context, this could mean &quot;stream(s) in the mountain(s),&quot; usually it connotes &quot;mountain(s) and stream(s),&quot; &quot;landscape(s),&quot; or &quot;landscape painting(s).&quot;  Regardless of the specific usage, there is always a sense of plurality  referring to a unified image.</p>
<p>Although such collocations always have some aspect of plurality, they do not necessarily require a plural referent.  The number of the referent seems to be semantically determined rather than grammatically determined.  An example is the word 国家 which has no problem referring to a single entity.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-20T15:40:41.493Z
2024-08-20T15:40:41.493Z
Vegawatcher
<p>From my <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/58575/repetitive-meaning-of-%E6%9F%B5%E6%AC%84">answer</a> to another post</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They are called 同义复词 (synonym compounds).</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>A compound has one meaning, not two same meanings.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>柵欄 (fence) is not 'fence, fence'</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>繩索 (rope) is not 'rope, rope'</p>
</blockquote>
<p>帝王 is not&quot;emperor's king&quot;, It is a compound word made up of 'emperors' and 'kings' meaning &quot;<strong>sovereign</strong>&quot; or 帝王 can be a short form of &quot;Emperors and kings&quot;</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-07T01:38:11.423Z
"A compound has one meaning, not two same meanings", or two contrasting, non-complementary meanings. For example the English address, "Your Majesty",  Now, why no one ask what is "Your" doing there? As for 皇帝 , this trend was started by Qin Shi Huang, 秦始皇, and 始皇 just means the First Emperor, and so assumed the invented title of "Emperor" (皇帝), which would see continuous use by monarchs in "China" for the next two millennia. Previous to 秦始皇 Emperors were also known as 天子, (Son of Heaven, Aliens?), and since 秦始皇 had no such Heavenly credentials, he decided to become the "First Emperor" instead.
Wayne Cheah
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-07T06:40:00.327Z
I've already acknowledged the possibility you're suggesting, a near-synonymous pair of morphemes. But like I said in my question, 君主, 君王 and 帝王 don't seem to have the typical meanings of such a near-synonymous pair, in that they refer to **singular** entities (**one** specific sovereign, not **multiple** nonspecific sovereigns). I think it might be possible that 君 refers to a lesser "lord", thus 君主 and 君王 could mean "lesser lords' greater lord".
Vun-Hugh Vaw
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-07T06:40:11.733Z
However, this doesn't seem to quite work out with 帝王, where 帝 is greater, not lesser than 王. Perhaps 帝 here means what it originally meant, a heavenly or semidivine being? Thus, "heavenly sovereign's lord"?
Vun-Hugh Vaw
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-07T06:47:09.817Z
Even your example, 柵欄, can be interpret as "railing in general". Semantically, it's similar to the English singular word "railing" and the plural word "railings". Railing and fencing are constructed from multiple singular posts, there's plurality in there. But 帝王 means one king, not "kings in general".
Vun-Hugh Vaw
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-06T20:56:34.177Z
2024-08-06T21:06:30.053Z
2024-08-06T21:06:30.053Z
Tang Ho
<p>monarch: from Greek: μούναρχος, μούν + αρχος: sole + ruler</p>
<p>君主: 君：ruler + 主：originally a lamp, now means main or master</p>
<p>Not withstanding the Greek or English word <em>monarch</em>, no country can be run by one person. There are many “rulers”. Among them, one bright spark (主) is the “君主, (the) ruler main”</p>
<p>君王 : 君：ruler + 王：king: Again, we just have “king of kings”</p>
<p>帝：(象形。<br />
（Pictograph.<br />
甲骨文字形，<br />
Oracle bone script.<br />
象花蒂的全形。<br />
Resembling a whole flower.<br />
上面象花的子房，<br />
the top shows the flower ovary,<br />
中间象花萼(花瓣外面的绿片)。<br />
The middle shows the sepals (the green cover of the petals)<br />
下面下垂的象雌雄花蕊。<br />
the bottom shows the drooping flower stamen.<br />
本义:花蒂)<br />
original meaning: flower bud)</p>
<p>缔：bind inextricably</p>
<p>帝王: 帝：really fancy hairstyle, like an orchid: 王：king: the guy who stands above the others (立）It’s all in the haircut!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-07T07:35:01.720Z
Graphemes may or may not be linked to morphemes. Take 虫 for example, which originally meant "snake", but eventually became a simplified from of 蟲 meaning "beast" or "insect". 元 originally had nothing to do with currency, but was made a simplified form for 圓, simply because the two words sound identical only in Mandarin. People can be very liberal in the ways they write words, but what they cannot control is the words themselves.
Vun-Hugh Vaw
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-07T08:52:25.820Z
Where exactly do you define the difference between grapheme and morpheme? morphē "form, shape,"  + -eme “unit of language structure” graph "letter, symbol" + -eme “unit of language structure” grapheme: coined by U.S. linguistics professor William Freeman Twaddell (1906-1982) twaddle? Really?
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-07T11:41:09.747Z
Morphemes are word parts, graphemes are characters or character parts. Languages start as spoken, with morphemes, and may later develop graphemes or not. Tons of languages remain spoken only, with no graphemes to speak of. What you're describing in your answer is characters or their parts, ie graphemes.
Vun-Hugh Vaw
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-09T08:07:47.177Z
(There was a lot written here, some of which may have been important.  I deleted everything from when it started to be more about users than the topic.  Please note the [code of conduct](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/conduct).  In general, try to avoid arguing in comments please---say what you need to say, vote appropriately, and move on.)
Becky 李蓓
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-07T07:02:01.283Z
2024-08-07T07:02:01.283Z
Pedroski
<p>君 - &quot;ruler&quot;</p>
<ul>
<li><p>君主 - &quot;ruler master/lord&quot;</p>
</li>
<li><p>君王 - &quot;ruler king&quot;</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Both terms are honorific titles used by the subordinates in addressing their supreme leader. The word &quot;ruler(君)&quot; is liking the decoration jewel on top of the crown, without it, the crown is a crown; with it, the crown is much shinier.</p>
<p>帝王 - means &quot;Emporer and/or King&quot; literally.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-21T00:32:20.627Z
2024-08-21T00:32:20.627Z
r13
<p>I've observed a couple of semantic relationships between two morphemes of a typical disyllabic Chinese compound.</p>
<p>(<strong>IMPORTANT NOTES:</strong> Just to be clear here, the following examples contain <strong>literal translations</strong> of the morphemes, especially based on their <strong><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Chinese" rel="nofollow noreferrer">classical</a></strong> usage. The modern meanings you'll find in most modern dictionaries, including Chinese ones, were Japanese reinterpretations, often very, very loose reinterpretations, and they are not relevant here. For example, 革命 originally meant &quot;to change the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandate_of_Heaven" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Mandate</a>&quot;, in other words, to change from one dynasty to another, but Japanese writers used it to translate the western concept of &quot;revolution&quot;.)</p>
<ul>
<li>The first morpheme is an adjective that modifies the second which is a noun. The primary morpheme, or &quot;head&quot; morpheme, is the second one. For example,　親王 (&quot;close prince&quot;), 現象 (&quot;current manifestation&quot;), 故郷 (&quot;old hometown&quot;), 自由 (&quot;self determination&quot;), 公司 (&quot;public agency&quot;), 少年 (&quot;young age&quot;), 兒女 (&quot;young girl&quot;).</li>
<li>The first morpheme is an adverb that modifies the second which is a verb. The &quot;head&quot; morpheme is the second. For example, 過去 (&quot;already gone&quot;), 現在 (&quot;currently be&quot;), 未来 (&quot;yet to come&quot;), 文化 (&quot;literarily change&quot;).</li>
<li>The first morpheme is a noun that possesses the second which is also a noun. The &quot;head&quot; morpheme is the second. For example, 民主 (&quot;people's lord&quot;), 皇室 (&quot;sovereign's chamber&quot;), 公子 (&quot;duke's son&quot;), 郡王 (&quot;commandery's prince&quot;), 天使 (&quot;heaven's messenger&quot;), 物理 (&quot;things' nature&quot;), 人文 (&quot;humans' behaviors&quot;).</li>
<li>The first morpheme is a transitive verb that acts on the second morpheme which is a noun. The &quot;head&quot; morpheme is the first, because this is a verbal phrase. For example, 革命 (&quot;to change the Mandate&quot;), 變態 (&quot;to change conditions&quot;), 乾杯 (&quot;to empty the cup&quot;).</li>
<li>The first morpheme is a noun and the second morpheme is an adverb of location. Not sure which is the &quot;head&quot; morpheme. For example, 天上 (&quot;above heaven&quot;), 天下 (&quot;under heaven&quot;), 陛下 (&quot;under the imperial steps&quot;), 殿下 (&quot;under the palace&quot;), 閣下 (&quot;under the pavilion&quot;), 猊下 (&quot;under the lion throne&quot;), 宮中 (&quot;inside the palace&quot;).</li>
<li>The morphemes contrast each other, often are antonymous, have equal status, and form a contrastive pair. There's no &quot;head&quot; morpheme. For example, 親戚 (&quot;paternal and maternal kin&quot;), 夫婦 (&quot;husband and wife&quot;), 兒女 (&quot;boys and girls&quot;), 古新 (&quot;old and new&quot;), 公私 (&quot;public and private&quot;), 皇帝 (&quot;sovereigns and emperors&quot;), 文武 (&quot;literary and martial&quot;).</li>
<li>The morphemes are near-synonymous, have equal status, and form a &quot;plural&quot; or a generalizing term. There's no &quot;head&quot; morpheme. 森林 (&quot;forests&quot;), 宗教 (&quot;schools of thought&quot;), 方向 (&quot;directions&quot;), 過渡 (&quot;crossing&quot; in general), 降臨 (&quot;arriving&quot; in general).</li>
</ul>
<p>For a few words like 君主, 君王 and 帝王, I can't figure out the semantic relationship. At first blush, it seems to be a near-synonymous, contrastive relationship, but the meanings of these words are very singular and specific, not plural or general. Both morphemes in each word are nouns, suggesting possible possessive relationship, but then the literal translations wouldn't make much sense: 君主/君王 (&quot;king(s)'s king&quot;?, &quot;lord(s)'s lord&quot;?), 帝王 (&quot;emperor's king&quot;?).</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-07T05:07:24.267Z
some mistakes: 

"young girl" is 少女.

文化 means "literary cultivation". (although "change" is somehow ok)

民主 is more like "people governs".
ZhenRanZR
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2024-08-07T06:23:35.347Z
@ZhenRanZR 民主 does not mean "people governs", morphologically speaking. It meant "people's lord", in other word, the "monarch", in classical Chinese. The "monarch" sense shifted to "democratically elected president" with the publication of the Chinese translation of *Elements of International Law* (萬國公法). The morphological translations I'm using here are based on classical interpretations, not modern ones.
Vun-Hugh Vaw
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2024-08-07T09:24:55.907Z
Maybe I misunderstood something, but why are 君主, 君王 and 帝王 “very singular and specific”? For example, in 君主制, 君王更替 and 历代帝王 they are generalizing terms. Do you feel the same about 皇帝/神祇 as well? To me, only terms like 周文王/亚历山大大帝 sound singular and specific.
kyc
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2024-08-07T10:53:08.120Z
@kyc 君主, for example, may mean "one monarch" or "the monarch", while 森林 means "multiple forests" or "forests in general". Granted, I'm not proficient enough to be making these claims, and actual usage, whether modern or classical, may be a lot more nuanced and fuzzy than what I'm alleging here. Also, 君主, as a modern word in compounds like 君主制, may have an adjectival sense ("monarchical") rather than a nominal one ("monarch")
Vun-Hugh Vaw
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-07T10:57:00.597Z
@kyc 皇帝 was originally a collective "plural" compound ("three sovereigns and five emperors") until usage changed with the rise of 始皇帝. Are you suggesting 君主, 君王 and 帝王 may have a similar history?
Vun-Hugh Vaw
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-07T20:29:03.713Z
@Vun-HughVaw Thx for your reply! I guess the difference in our thinking is that I think 森林 and 君主 are not necessarily singular or plural, i.e., 森林 can be “a forest” or “forests”, and 君主 can be “a monarch” or “monarchs”. I can say 我喜欢这片森林/我讨厌这位君主 to be singular, while I can also say 我喜欢森林/我讨厌君主 to be general. I don’t think 君主/君王/帝王 have a similar history like 皇帝. I was simply wondering if your sense of “singular and specific” originates from the rareness, so I asked about emperors and gods, which are both rare.
kyc
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-09T01:04:37.747Z
I think you misunderstood how Chinese works. Spectacularly enough, there's actually no one-size-fits all "grammar" in Chinese. Native and non-native speakers alike interpret every word by its own, then interprets the meaning of the combination of those characters.
Admirer of the dragon flag
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2024-08-09T01:16:43.740Z
Also, you misunderstood some of the phrases you used as examples. For example, 現象 is "phenomenon", and 公司 is "company" (not public agency, that's a common misinterpretation because words "公" is "public" and "司" is "agency", but combined "公司" is "company"). 兒女 is "children", and 過去 is "in the past" or "go there", depending on context. ...
Admirer of the dragon flag
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-09T01:16:58.353Z
現在 is "now" or "right now",  未来 is "future", and 文化 is "culture".  天使 is "fairy", 物理 is "physics", 人文 is "humanity", 革命 is "revolution", and 變態 is "deformity", "pervert" or "insane person". Thus, what matters is to know the actual meanings of these phrases, rather than how the "grammar" works.
Admirer of the dragon flag
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-09T02:44:26.280Z
@Admirerofthedragonflag Morphemes relate to morphology and etymology. It's about how words are formed from smaller components. It's not remotely about grammar, at least modern Chinese grammar. I'm not using any "grammar" tag here. You think I didn't know 文化 mean "culture", 物理 mean "physics", 革命 mean "revolution"? These are modern meanings created by Japanese writers during the Meiji period, who very loosely repurposed classical compounds. All you're doing is just quoting a bilingual dictionary, which anybody with a dictionary can do.
Vun-Hugh Vaw
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-09T02:50:21.870Z
@Admirerofthedragonflag "Also, you misunderstood some of the phrases you used as examples." These are deliberately literal translations, to illustrate the categories I used. Again, I too can look up words in dictionaries, but thank you for taking the pains any way. I thought it was self-evident that I deliberately did not use dictionary translations, but apparently not.
Vun-Hugh Vaw
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-09T04:22:14.273Z
@Vun-HughVaw I apologize for misunderstanding your meaning here. I thought you were stating the meanings of each phrase in the parenthesis. Your edit make things a lot clearer, although probably I'm the only one that misunderstood. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to point out that I misunderstood!
Admirer of the dragon flag
<etymology><morphology><semantics>
What's the semantic relationship between the morphemes in words like 君主, 君王 and 帝王?
# What's the semantic relationship between the morphemes in words like 君主, 君王 and 帝王?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-08-06)

I've observed a couple of semantic relationships between two morphemes of a typical disyllabic Chinese compound.

(**IMPORTANT NOTES:** Just to be clear here, the following examples contain **literal translations** of the morphemes, especially based on their **[classical](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Chinese)** usage. The modern meanings you'll find in most modern dictionaries, including Chinese ones, were Japanese reinterpretations, often very, very loose reinterpretations, and they are not relevant here. For example, 革命 originally meant "to change the [Mandate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandate_of_Heaven)", in other words, to change from one dynasty to another, but Japanese writers used it to translate the western concept of "revolution".)

* The first morpheme is an adjective that modifies the second which is a noun. The primary morpheme, or "head" morpheme, is the second one. For example,　親王 ("close prince"), 現象 ("current manifestation"), 故郷 ("old hometown"), 自由 ("self determination"), 公司 ("public agency"), 少年 ("young age"), 兒女 ("young girl").
* The first morpheme is an adverb that modifies the second which is a verb. The "head" morpheme is the second. For example, 過去 ("already gone"), 現在 ("currently be"), 未来 ("yet to come"), 文化 ("literarily change").
* The first morpheme is a noun that possesses the second which is also a noun. The "head" morpheme is the second. For example, 民主 ("people's lord"), 皇室 ("sovereign's chamber"), 公子 ("duke's son"), 郡王 ("commandery's prince"), 天使 ("heaven's messenger"), 物理 ("things' nature"), 人文 ("humans' behaviors").
* The first morpheme is a transitive verb that acts on the second morpheme which is a noun. The "head" morpheme is the first, because this is a verbal phrase. For example, 革命 ("to change the Mandate"), 變態 ("to change conditions"), 乾杯 ("to empty the cup").
* The first morpheme is a noun and the second morpheme is an adverb of location. Not sure which is the "head" morpheme. For example, 天上 ("above heaven"), 天下 ("under heaven"), 陛下 ("under the imperial steps"), 殿下 ("under the palace"), 閣下 ("under the pavilion"), 猊下 ("under the lion throne"), 宮中 ("inside the palace").
* The morphemes contrast each other, often are antonymous, have equal status, and form a contrastive pair. There's no "head" morpheme. For example, 親戚 ("paternal and maternal kin"), 夫婦 ("husband and wife"), 兒女 ("boys and girls"), 古新 ("old and new"), 公私 ("public and private"), 皇帝 ("sovereigns and emperors"), 文武 ("literary and martial").
* The morphemes are near-synonymous, have equal status, and form a "plural" or a generalizing term. There's no "head" morpheme. 森林 ("forests"), 宗教 ("schools of thought"), 方向 ("directions"), 過渡 ("crossing" in general), 降臨 ("arriving" in general).

For a few words like 君主, 君王 and 帝王, I can't figure out the semantic relationship. At first blush, it seems to be a near-synonymous, contrastive relationship, but the meanings of these words are very singular and specific, not plural or general. Both morphemes in each word are nouns, suggesting possible possessive relationship, but then the literal translations wouldn't make much sense: 君主/君王 ("king(s)'s king"?, "lord(s)'s lord"?), 帝王 ("emperor's king"?).

**Tags:** etymology, morphology, semantics

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: some mistakes:   "young girl" is 少女.  文化 means "literary cultivation". (although "change" is somehow ok)  民主 is more like "people governs".  
> **username_0**: @username_1 民主 does not mean "people governs", morphologically speaking. It meant "people's lord", in other word, the "monarch", in classical Chinese. The "monarch" sense shifted to "democratically elected president" with the publication of the Chinese translation of *Elements of International Law* (萬國公法). The morphological translations I'm using here are based on classical interpretations, not modern ones.  
> **username_2**: Maybe I misunderstood something, but why are 君主, 君王 and 帝王 “very singular and specific”? For example, in 君主制, 君王更替 and 历代帝王 they are generalizing terms. Do you feel the same about 皇帝/神祇 as well? To me, only terms like 周文王/亚历山大大帝 sound singular and specific.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 君主, for example, may mean "one monarch" or "the monarch", while 森林 means "multiple forests" or "forests in general". Granted, I'm not proficient enough to be making these claims, and actual usage, whether modern or classical, may be a lot more nuanced and fuzzy than what I'm alleging here. Also, 君主, as a modern word in compounds like 君主制, may have an adjectival sense ("monarchical") rather than a nominal one ("monarch")  
> **username_0**: @username_2 皇帝 was originally a collective "plural" compound ("three sovereigns and five emperors") until usage changed with the rise of 始皇帝. Are you suggesting 君主, 君王 and 帝王 may have a similar history?  
> **username_2**: @Vun-HughVaw Thx for your reply! I guess the difference in our thinking is that I think 森林 and 君主 are not necessarily singular or plural, i.e., 森林 can be “a forest” or “forests”, and 君主 can be “a monarch” or “monarchs”. I can say 我喜欢这片森林/我讨厌这位君主 to be singular, while I can also say 我喜欢森林/我讨厌君主 to be general. I don’t think 君主/君王/帝王 have a similar history like 皇帝. I was simply wondering if your sense of “singular and specific” originates from the rareness, so I asked about emperors and gods, which are both rare.  
> **username_3**: I think you misunderstood how Chinese works. Spectacularly enough, there's actually no one-size-fits all "grammar" in Chinese. Native and non-native speakers alike interpret every word by its own, then interprets the meaning of the combination of those characters.  
> **username_3**: Also, you misunderstood some of the phrases you used as examples. For example, 現象 is "phenomenon", and 公司 is "company" (not public agency, that's a common misinterpretation because words "公" is "public" and "司" is "agency", but combined "公司" is "company"). 兒女 is "children", and 過去 is "in the past" or "go there", depending on context. ...  
> **username_3**: 現在 is "now" or "right now",  未来 is "future", and 文化 is "culture".  天使 is "fairy", 物理 is "physics", 人文 is "humanity", 革命 is "revolution", and 變態 is "deformity", "pervert" or "insane person". Thus, what matters is to know the actual meanings of these phrases, rather than how the "grammar" works.  
> **username_0**: @Admirerofthedragonflag Morphemes relate to morphology and etymology. It's about how words are formed from smaller components. It's not remotely about grammar, at least modern Chinese grammar. I'm not using any "grammar" tag here. You think I didn't know 文化 mean "culture", 物理 mean "physics", 革命 mean "revolution"? These are modern meanings created by Japanese writers during the Meiji period, who very loosely repurposed classical compounds. All you're doing is just quoting a bilingual dictionary, which anybody with a dictionary can do.  
> **username_0**: @Admirerofthedragonflag "Also, you misunderstood some of the phrases you used as examples." These are deliberately literal translations, to illustrate the categories I used. Again, I too can look up words in dictionaries, but thank you for taking the pains any way. I thought it was self-evident that I deliberately did not use dictionary translations, but apparently not.  
> **username_3**: @Vun-HughVaw I apologize for misunderstanding your meaning here. I thought you were stating the meanings of each phrase in the parenthesis. Your edit make things a lot clearer, although probably I'm the only one that misunderstood. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to point out that I misunderstood!  

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2024-08-20. Score: 1

Hear is my understanding, based partly in Archie Barnes' book *Chinese through Poetry*.

> For a few words like 君主, 君王 and 帝王, I can't figure out the semantic relationship.

I think these compounds have a relationship that was originally one of apposition, comparable to the English phrase "my lord and master." Like English, these phrases are formally ambiguous as to whether they refer to two different aspects of one individual or to two entirely separate individuals.

Unlike English, Classical Chinese (and modern Chinese still to some extant) does not require an equivalent of "and" or "or" to join words of a similar class in a group and simply juxtaposes them. Words like 君主 imply a relationship something like "lord/master" or "lord and/or master."

It is, of course, possible that the first term modifies the second term; however, I do not think this is the normal interpretation when the two terms are seen as being members of the same semantic class. Also, even with apposition, the meaning of the first term interacts with the meaning of the second.

A clearer example might be the expression 山水. Although in appropriate context, this could mean "stream(s) in the mountain(s)," usually it connotes "mountain(s) and stream(s)," "landscape(s)," or "landscape painting(s)." Regardless of the specific usage, there is always a sense of plurality referring to a unified image.

Although such collocations always have some aspect of plurality, they do not necessarily require a plural referent. The number of the referent seems to be semantically determined rather than grammatically determined. An example is the word 国家 which has no problem referring to a single entity.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2024-08-06. Score: 1

From my [answer](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/58575/repetitive-meaning-of-%E6%9F%B5%E6%AC%84) to another post

> They are called 同义复词 (synonym compounds).

> A compound has one meaning, not two same meanings.

> 柵欄 (fence) is not 'fence, fence'

> 繩索 (rope) is not 'rope, rope'

帝王 is not"emperor's king", It is a compound word made up of 'emperors' and 'kings' meaning "**sovereign**" or 帝王 can be a short form of "Emperors and kings"

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: "A compound has one meaning, not two same meanings", or two contrasting, non-complementary meanings. For example the English address, "Your Majesty",  Now, why no one ask what is "Your" doing there? As for 皇帝 , this trend was started by Qin Shi Huang, 秦始皇, and 始皇 just means the First Emperor, and so assumed the invented title of "Emperor" (皇帝), which would see continuous use by monarchs in "China" for the next two millennia. Previous to 秦始皇 Emperors were also known as 天子, (Son of Heaven, Aliens?), and since 秦始皇 had no such Heavenly credentials, he decided to become the "First Emperor" instead.  
> **username_0**: I've already acknowledged the possibility you're suggesting, a near-synonymous pair of morphemes. But like I said in my question, 君主, 君王 and 帝王 don't seem to have the typical meanings of such a near-synonymous pair, in that they refer to **singular** entities (**one** specific sovereign, not **multiple** nonspecific sovereigns). I think it might be possible that 君 refers to a lesser "lord", thus 君主 and 君王 could mean "lesser lords' greater lord".  
> **username_0**: However, this doesn't seem to quite work out with 帝王, where 帝 is greater, not lesser than 王. Perhaps 帝 here means what it originally meant, a heavenly or semidivine being? Thus, "heavenly sovereign's lord"?  
> **username_0**: Even your example, 柵欄, can be interpret as "railing in general". Semantically, it's similar to the English singular word "railing" and the plural word "railings". Railing and fencing are constructed from multiple singular posts, there's plurality in there. But 帝王 means one king, not "kings in general".  

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### Answer by username_7 on 2024-08-07. Score: -1

monarch: from Greek: μούναρχος, μούν + αρχος: sole + ruler

君主: 君：ruler + 主：originally a lamp, now means main or master

Not withstanding the Greek or English word *monarch*, no country can be run by one person. There are many “rulers”. Among them, one bright spark (主) is the “君主, (the) ruler main”

君王 : 君：ruler + 王：king: Again, we just have “king of kings”

帝：(象形。  
（Pictograph.  
甲骨文字形，  
Oracle bone script.  
象花蒂的全形。  
Resembling a whole flower.  
上面象花的子房，  
the top shows the flower ovary,  
中间象花萼(花瓣外面的绿片)。  
The middle shows the sepals (the green cover of the petals)  
下面下垂的象雌雄花蕊。  
the bottom shows the drooping flower stamen.  
本义:花蒂)  
original meaning: flower bud)

缔：bind inextricably

帝王: 帝：really fancy hairstyle, like an orchid: 王：king: the guy who stands above the others (立）It’s all in the haircut!

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Graphemes may or may not be linked to morphemes. Take 虫 for example, which originally meant "snake", but eventually became a simplified from of 蟲 meaning "beast" or "insect". 元 originally had nothing to do with currency, but was made a simplified form for 圓, simply because the two words sound identical only in Mandarin. People can be very liberal in the ways they write words, but what they cannot control is the words themselves.  
> **username_7**: Where exactly do you define the difference between grapheme and morpheme? morphē "form, shape,"  + -eme “unit of language structure” graph "letter, symbol" + -eme “unit of language structure” grapheme: coined by U.S. linguistics professor William Freeman Twaddell (1906-1982) twaddle? Really?  
> **username_0**: Morphemes are word parts, graphemes are characters or character parts. Languages start as spoken, with morphemes, and may later develop graphemes or not. Tons of languages remain spoken only, with no graphemes to speak of. What you're describing in your answer is characters or their parts, ie graphemes.  
> **username_8**: (There was a lot written here, some of which may have been important.  I deleted everything from when it started to be more about users than the topic.  Please note the [code of conduct](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/conduct).  In general, try to avoid arguing in comments please---say what you need to say, vote appropriately, and move on.)  

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### Answer by username_9 on 2024-08-21. Score: -1

君 - "ruler"

* 君主 - "ruler master/lord"
* 君王 - "ruler king"

Both terms are honorific titles used by the subordinates in addressing their supreme leader. The word "ruler(君)" is liking the decoration jewel on top of the crown, without it, the crown is a crown; with it, the crown is much shinier.

帝王 - means "Emporer and/or King" literally.


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