厢房 (xiāng fáng) — wing of a house; wing-room

Definition

A wing room in a traditional Chinese courtyard house, set on the east or west side of the main hall. Often used to house guests or family members, as shown in examples like guests staying in the east 厢房.

noun
wing of a housewing-room
Measure word · 间

Examples

  • 厢房。
    Zhè zuò lǎo fáng zi de xiāng fáng hěn dà.
    This old house's wing is very big.
  • 厢房。
    Kè rén zhù zài dōng bian de xiāng fáng lǐ.
    The guest stays in the east wing.
  • 厢房。
    xiāng fáng De chuāng hu duì zhe huā yuán.
    The wing's windows face the garden.

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.

厢xiāngside wing
房fángroom

厢 refers to a side wing, and 房 to a room, forming the wing-room.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 厢 →

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
戶戶hùdoor
Sound part声符shēngfú
方
方fāng房fáng
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 →

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