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小康 (xiǎo kāng) — moderately affluent, well-off (describing a household or society's economic status)

Definition

小康 names a level of moderate prosperity, used mainly for households or society as a whole (小康社会). It's less than 富裕, which means genuinely wealthy or affluent.

adjective
moderately affluentwell-off (describing a household or society's economic status)

Examples

  • 小康。
    Wǒ jiā yǐ jīng dá dào xiǎo kāng shuǐ píng.
    My family has already reached a well-off standard of living.
  • 小康。
    xiǎo kāng Shè huì shì dà jiā gòng tóng de mù biāo.
    A moderately prosperous society is a common goal for everyone.
  • 。
    Tā xiàn zài guò dé hěn xiǎo kāng.
    He is now living a comfortably well-off life.

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.

小xiǎomoderate
康kāngprosperity

小 indicates moderate or limited, 康 indicates health and prosperity; together they name a state of moderate prosperity.

Characters in this word

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

  • 八八bāto divide; to separate
  • 丨丨gǔnsmall object

The shape of 小 comes from three small dots, later elongated into its strokes; the apparent parts 八 and 丨 are a later way of seeing it.

Open 小 →

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

康 pairs 庚 (threshing tools) with 米 (rice), showing rice being processed into chaff.

Open 康 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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