Meaning of 北部
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- northern part
How to use 北部
北部 usually follows a place name to mean the northern region of it, like a country, province, or city. It often appears with 在 (zài) or before 地区 (dìqū). Example: 我住在中国北部。(Wǒ zhù zài Zhōngguó běibù.) I live in northern China.
北 (běi) means north, and 部 (bù) means part or section, as in 部分 (bùfen). Put them together and you get the north part of a place.
Common mistake: Learners often use 北部 when they mean 北边 (běibian). 北部 is the northern part inside an area, while 北边 can also mean the north side outside it. Also, 北 is third tone, so do not say it flat as bēi.
北部 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
北 běi · north · 5 strokes
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部 bù · ministry · 10 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 北部.
| 北京 | Běijīng | Beijing municipality, capital of the People's Republic of China (short name 京[Jing1]) |
| 北边 | běibian | north; north side |
| 全部 | quánbù | whole; all |
| 部分 | bùfen | part; portion; piece; Taiwan pr. [bu4fen4] |
| 一部分 | yī bùfen | portion; part of |
| 大部分 | dàbùfen | the greater part; the majority; most; Taiwan pr. [da4bu4fen4] |
| 北方 | běifāng | north; the northern part a country |
| 西北 | xīběi | northwest |
| 东北 | dōngběi | northeast |
| 部门 | bùmén | department; branch |
| 部长 | bùzhǎng | head of a (government etc) department; section chief |
| 西部 | xībù | western part |
Questions about 北部
What does 北部 mean?
北部 (běibù) means "northern part" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 北部?
北部 is made of 2 characters: 北 (5 strokes), 部 (10 strokes). That is 15 strokes in total.
Is 北部 an HSK word?
Yes. 北部 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What are the words for the other directions with 部?
The pattern is the same: 南部 (nánbù) southern part, 东部 (dōngbù) eastern part, and 西部 (xībù) western part. You can also say 中部 (zhōngbù) for the central part.
Can I say 北部中国 instead of 中国北部?
No, the normal order is place first, then direction: 中国北部. Chinese puts the larger area before the part, just like 北京西部 (Běijīng xībù) for western Beijing.