同居 (tóng jū) — to cohabit, to live together (as a romantic cou… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Specifically means an unmarried romantic couple living together — stronger and more committed than just sharing a place. 结婚 is the legal marital counterpart.

verb

to cohabitto live together (as a romantic couple)

Examples

同居。
Tā men jué dìng tóng jū le.
They decided to cohabit.
同居。
Hěn duō nián qīng rén xuǎn zé tóng jū ér bù jié hūn.
Many young people choose to cohabit rather than marry.
，同居。
Zài zhōng guó, tóng jū yuè lái yuè pǔ biàn.
In China, cohabitation is becoming more common.

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tóngtogether

同 means together and 居 means live, giving the sense of living together.

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.

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

尸古居

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

古

古gǔ居jū

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

居 is built from 尸 as the meaning part and 古 (gǔ) as the sound part.

Appears in

Romance & Marriage

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