房间 (fáng jiān) — room

Definition

房间 (fángjiān) refers to a single room inside a building — like a bedroom or hotel room. For the whole building use 房子; for general 'space' use 地方.

noun
room
Measure word · 间, 个

Examples

  • 房间。
    Wǒ de fáng jiān hěn dà.
    My room is very big.
  • 房间。
    Tā yǒu yí gè fáng jiān.
    He has a room.
  • 房间。
    Zhè ge fáng jiān hěn lěng.
    This room is very cold.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

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

房fángroom
间jiānspace

房 and 间 both point to enclosed living space, giving the sense of a room.

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
戶戶hùdoor
Sound part声符shēngfú
方
方fāng房fáng
Same sound today

房 pairs 戶 (door) with 方 (fāng) as a sound part; 方 can also fit 'side,' as in a side room beside the main room.

Open 房 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 间 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 1500 Most Frequent Chinese WordsHSK 2.0 Level 21000 Most Frequent Chinese WordsRooms & Spaces2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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