买房 (mǎi fáng) — to buy a house or apartment; to purchase a property

Definition

verb
to buy a house or apartmentto purchase a property

Examples

  • 买房
    Wǒ dǎ suàn míng nián mǎi fáng.
    I plan to buy a house next year.
  • 买房
    Tā men zuì jìn gāng mǎi fáng, zhèng zài zhuāng xiū.
    They just bought a house recently and are renovating it.
  • 买房
    Xiàn zài mǎi fáng xū yào dài kuǎn, yā lì hěn dà.
    Buying a house now requires a loan, and the pressure is great.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

买 for purchasing and 房 for house combine to mean buying a house.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 買; 买 is its simplified writing.

In the traditional form 買, 网 is a net and 貝 is a money cowrie.

Open 买 →

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
door
Sound part声符shēngfú
fāngfáng
Same sound today

房 pairs 戶 (door) with 方 (fāng) as a sound part; 方 can also fit 'side,' as in a side room beside the main room.

Open 房 →
Appears in

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