家乡话 (jiā xiāng huà) — native dialect; hometown dialect

Definition

noun
native dialecthometown dialect

Examples

  • 家乡话？
    Nǐ huì shuō jiā xiāng huà ma?
    Can you speak your hometown dialect?
  • ，家乡话。
    Suī rán zài wài dì shēng huó duō nián, tā shuō huà hái shì dài zhe jiā xiāng huà de kǒu yīn.
    Although he has lived away for many years, his speech still carries the accent of his hometown dialect.
  • ，家乡话。
    Měi cì huí jiā, wǒ dōu xǐ huan hé lǎo rén yòng jiā xiāng huà liáo tiān.
    Every time I go home, I like to chat with the elderly in the local dialect.

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.

家乡hometown
家jiāhome乡xiānghometown
联合Side by side
话huàspeech

家 and 乡 both mean home or hometown; 话 gives 'speech', making 'hometown speech'.

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
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.

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 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 話; 话 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánword
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠯑
𠯑𠯑話huà
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 話, 言 relates to words and 𠯑 gives the sound; the simplified 话 is a shorthand, so its right side is not that sound part.

Open 话 →

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