寄居 (jì jū) — to lodge temporarily away from home; to sojourn | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literary/formal verb meaning 'to lodge temporarily away from home,' usually because of work or study — stronger and more written than everyday 住. Also used for animals (like hermit crabs) living in borrowed shelters.

verb

to lodge temporarily away from hometo sojourn

Examples

寄居。
Tā xiǎo shí hou céng jì jū zài guó wài dú shū.
He once lived away from home studying abroad as a child.
，寄居。
Yóu yú gōng zuò yuán yīn, tā bù dé bú jì jū zài péng you jiā.
Due to work, he had no choice but to lodge at a friend's place.
寄居。
Zhè zhī páng xiè xǐ huan jì jū zài kōng bèi ké lǐ.
This crab likes to live in empty shells.

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.

寄jìstay temporarily

寄 suggests staying temporarily, and 居 means living, so they describe lodging away from home.

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.

宀奇寄

Meaning part形符xíngfú

宀宀miánhouse

Sound part声符shēngfú

奇

奇qí寄jì

Same sound today

The 宀 part shows a roof, and 奇 gives the sound. Together they point to staying or lodging away from home.

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

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