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家乡 (jiā xiāng) — hometown, native place

Definition

家乡 is the standard word for 'hometown, native place,' used warmly and personally. 老乡 means a fellow person from the same hometown, not the place itself.

noun
hometownnative place
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 家乡。
    Tā lí kāi jiā xiāng yǐ jīng shí nián le.
    He left his hometown ten years ago.
  • 家乡。
    Wǒ de jiā xiāng zài nán fāng de yí gè xiǎo chéng.
    My hometown is a small city in the south.
  • 。
    Měi nián chūn jié wǒ dōu huí jiā xiāng guò nián.
    Every Spring Festival I go back to my hometown for the New Year.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

家jiāhome
乡xiāngnative place

家 means home and 乡 means native place; together they name one's hometown.

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 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 4HSK 2.0 Level 5City & Urban5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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