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大家族 (dà jiā zú) — large family, clan, extended family

Definition

大家族 refers to an extended family or clan — multiple generations living together or sharing lineage, larger than a nuclear family (家庭) and tied by blood descent.

noun
large familyclanextended family

Examples

  • 大家族。
    Zhè ge dà jiā zú yǒu jǐ shí kǒu rén.
    This large family has dozens of members.
  • 大家族。
    Tā shì nà ge dà jiā zú de zú zhǎng.
    He is the clan leader of that large family.
  • 大家族。
    dà jiā zú De chuán tǒng shì měi nián chūn jié jù huì.
    The tradition of the large family is to gather every Spring Festival.

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.

大dàlarge
家族family/clan
家jiāfamily族zúclan
联合Coordinate

“大” means large, while “家” and “族” together denote family and clan, giving a large family.

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

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
宀宀miánroof
Sound part声符shēngfú
𢑓
𢑓𢑓家jiā
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The early drawing of 家 showed a roof 宀 over a male-pig sign 𢑓 that gave the pronunciation; the lower part later changed shape.

Open 家 →

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

族 combines 㫃, a flag, and 矢, an arrow.

Open 族 →
Appears in
Family & Kinship

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