机构 - so many meanings?

[tooironic]

I realised the other day that 机构 is a very flexible word in Chinese.

At times it can mean "agency" or "organisation". Other times it can mean "company". It may even refer to a whole industry or sector, depending on the context. As I understand it, these concepts are pretty discrete in English.

My 查友 also lists "mechanism", "structure" and "institution" as other meanings. Are these common? And if so, in what situations?

Cheers!

[shinewind]

I list 机构’s different use and specify the frequency each of those appears:

Organization/agency (very often used)

Company/institution (frequently seen)

Industry (hardly seen this)

Mechanism/structure (this sounds new to me and to express that I probably would use机制/结构instead of 机构)

[skylee]

Mechanism/structure (this sounds new to me and to express that I probably would use机制/结构instead of 机构)

Or 架構.

[Michaelyus]

I think that 机构 for mechanism refers to mechanical mechanisms of machines, usually with definite reference in English. It generally does not refer to the 'mechanism' as a process (as 'mechanism' might be used in biology or chemistry; e.g. the reaction mechanism by which aspirin is produced from salicylic acid), nor a description of a whole object in process (probably the most common use; the OED defines this as 'a means by which an effect or result is produced'). 机构 definitely has a physics/engineering slant towards it, referring to the 'agency' that executes the actions; this use is also found particularly commonly in organology (though I can't verify how e.g. 'Boehm mechanism' is translated into Chinese).

[skylee]

I agree with shinewind that 機構 meaning mechanism is new to me. #4 makes it sound like this meaning is quite common, which I find a bit perplexing.

[Michaelyus]

I hope my post wasn't misleading - this use of 机构 is fairly specialist in Chinese, and this use of mechanism is also rather specialist in English, so I'd imagine it would only be 'common' if one works in those areas of expertise.

E.g.

从图一中可以看出，这种简单的键盘机构，其击弦机制只有一个杠杆在作用。