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园子 (yuán zǐ) — (place) garden or vegetable plot; (place) traditional Chinese theater venue (e.g., 戏园子)

Definition

园子 is a casual, spoken word for a 'garden' or small vegetable plot — more everyday than the literary 花园. In old Beijing it also referred to traditional theater venues (戏园子) where operas like 京剧 were performed.

noun
(place) garden or vegetable plot(place) traditional Chinese theater venue (e.g., 戏园子)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 园子，。
    Wǒ nǎi nai zài chéng wài yǒu yí gè xiǎo yuán zǐ, zhǒng le shū cài hé huā.
    My grandma has a small garden outside the city, where she grows vegetables and flowers.
  • 园子。
    Yǐ qián běi jīng de yuán zǐ zǐ lǐ tiān tiān yǒu jīng jù yǎn chū.
    In the past, there were Beijing opera performances every day in the theaters of Beijing.
  • 园子。
    Nà ge yuán zǐ zǐ yǐ jīng yǒu yì bǎi duō nián le.
    That theater is already over a hundred years old.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

园yuángarden
子zǐfamiliarizing ending

园 names a garden or theater venue, and 子 gives it a familiar, colloquial feel.

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
囗囗wéi
Sound part声符shēngfú
元
元yuán园yuán
Same sound today

In 园, 元 sits inside 囗, and 元 gives the sound.

Open 园 →

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

子 is drawn as a baby with a large head, arms stretched out, and legs wrapped in a blanket.

Open 子 →
Appears in
Home & Housing

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