敬老院 (jìng lǎo yuàn) — nursing home, old people's home (with a respect…

Definition

An 'old people's home' or 'nursing home'. The 敬老 ('respect the elderly') framing gives it a more respectful tone than plain 老人院.

noun

nursing homeold people's home (with a respectful connotation)

Measure word · 家

敬老院，。
Wǒ nǎi nai zhù zài jìng lǎo yuàn, nà lǐ de hù gōng hěn zhào gù tā.
My grandmother lives in a nursing home, and the caregivers there take good care of her.
敬老院，。
Shè qū xīn jiàn le yì jiā jìng lǎo yuàn, fāng biàn lǎo rén shēng huó.
The community built a new nursing home to make life easier for the elderly.
敬老院。
Hěn duō lǎo rén xǐ huan qù jìng lǎo yuàn hé tóng líng rén yì qǐ liáo tiān.
Many elderly people enjoy going to the nursing home to chat with peers.

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.

敬老respect elders

动宾Verb + object

院yuàninstitution

The 敬老 'respect elders' describes the purpose of the 院 'institution'.

Characters in this word

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

敬 is possibly formed from 茍, a kneeling person or sitting dog, and 攴, a hand holding a stick.

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

The shape 老 combines 人 (man), 毛 (hair), and 匕 (cane), showing a man with long hair leaning on a cane.

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

阝完院

Meaning part形符xíngfú

阝Written in full as阜fù

Sound part声符shēngfú

完

完wán院yuàn

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

院 is built from 阝, written in full as 阜, and 完, which gives the sound.