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东家 (dōng jiā) — (historical/formal) landlord, master, boss (the owner of a property or business); shareholder (in a business)

Definition

东家 is a somewhat old-fashioned or formal word for the owner of a property or business — the person you work for or rent from. In modern business talk it can also mean 'shareholder'.

noun
(historical/formal) landlordmasterboss (the owner of a property or business)shareholder (in a business)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 东家。
    Zhè wèi dōng jiā duì gōng rén hěn gōng píng.
    This boss is very fair to the workers.
  • 东家。
    Yǐ qián de dōng jiā bǎ tǔ dì zū gěi le nóng mín.
    The former landlord rented out the land to the peasants.
  • ，东家。
    Gōng sī yào kāi dǒng shì huì, jǐ wèi dōng jiā dōu lái le.
    The company is going to hold a board meeting, and several shareholders have arrived.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

东dōnghost
家jiāhousehold

东 means host or owner, and 家 means household or business, together naming the master of a household.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 東; 东 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 東 originally drew a full bag tied at both ends. The simplified 东 is a later shorthand, not the historical shape.

Open 东 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
宀宀miánroof
Sound part声符shēngfú
𢑓
𢑓𢑓家jiā
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The early drawing of 家 showed a roof 宀 over a male-pig sign 𢑓 that gave the pronunciation; the lower part later changed shape.

Open 家 →
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