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借宿 (jiè sù) — to stay overnight at someone else's home (temporarily)

Definition

'To stay overnight at someone else's home' as a temporary guest — more transient than 住 (to live/reside). Often paired with friends or acquaintances while traveling.

verb
to stay overnight at someone else's home (temporarily)

Examples

  • 借宿。
    Zuó tiān wǒ zài péng you jiā jiè sù le yì wǎn.
    Yesterday I stayed overnight at a friend's place.
  • ，。
    Tā zhè cì lǚ xíng qù guò hěn duō dì fāng, zài hǎo jǐ gè péng you jiā jiè guò sù.
    He traveled to many places this time and crashed at several friends' homes.
  • ，。
    Jiè yí yè sù kě yǐ, dàn bié tài jiǔ.
    Staying one night is fine, but don't stay too long.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

借jièborrow
宿sùlodging

借 'borrow' and 宿 'lodging' together mean borrowing a place to stay overnight.

Characters in this word

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
人人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
昔
昔xī借jiè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

借 combines 人, a person, with 昔, which shows the sound.

Open 借 →

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

  • 人人rénperson
  • 囗囗wéibamboo mat

The shape comes from an old drawing of 人, a person, resting on a mat.

Open 宿 →
Appears in
Accommodation

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