同乡 (tóng xiāng) — fellow townsman / someone from the same hometown (village, town, or province)

Definition

A 同乡 is someone who shares your hometown, village, or province — the bond is regional, not family. 同胞 refers to fellow countrymen of the same nation.

noun
fellow townsman / someone from the same hometown (village, town, or province)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • ，同乡。
    Zài běi jīng gōng zuò duō nián, měi cì yù dào tóng xiāng dōu jué de tè bié qīn qiè.
    Having worked in Beijing for many years, I always feel especially close whenever I meet a fellow townsman.
  • 同乡。
    Wǒ men cūn de tóng xiāng dōu cān jiā le zhè cì jù huì.
    All the fellow townsmen from our village attended this gathering.
  • 同乡，。
    Tā zài hǎi wài jiàn lì le tóng xiāng huì, bāng zhù xīn dào de yí mín.
    He established a fellow-townsmen association overseas to help new immigrants.

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.

同tóngsame
乡xiānghometown

同 means same and 乡 means hometown, so the meaning is someone sharing the same hometown.

Characters in this word

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

同 originally drew a pipe. It is the old form of 筒.

Open 同 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 鄉; 乡 is its simplified writing.

  • 𠨍𠨍𠨍two people facing each other
  • 皀皀jía round-mouthed food vessel

The traditional form 鄉 combines two people facing each other with a round-mouthed food vessel, depicting a feast. The village meaning is connected to this feasting event.

Open 乡 →

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