方丈 (fāng zhang) — (noun) Buddhist abbot; head monk of a monastery; (noun) the abbot's quarters in a Buddhist monastery; (noun) a traditional unit of area, about 11.11 square meters (archaic)

Definition

In a Buddhist monastery, 方丈 is both the head monk (the abbot) and the small residence where he lives. The two senses usually disambiguate from context — the person uses 是/的, the room uses 在/里.

noun
Buddhist abbothead monk of a monasterythe abbot's quarters in a Buddhist monasterya traditional unit of areaabout 11.11 square meters (archaic)
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 方丈。
    Zhè wèi fāng zhang shì yí wèi fēi cháng yǒu zhì huì de gāo sēng.
    This abbot is a very wise and eminent monk.
  • 方丈。
    Sì miào lǐ de fāng zhang zhèng zài gěi dì zǐ men jiǎng jīng.
    The abbot in the temple is giving a sutra lecture to the disciples.
  • 方丈。
    Kè rén men bèi qǐng dào le fāng zhang lǐ hē chá.
    The guests were invited into the abbot's quarters to drink tea.

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.

方fāngsquare
丈zhàngzhang

方 'square' and 丈 'zhang' describe a measure one zhang square, later linked to the abbot's quarters.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 方 →

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

丈 is made from 十 (ten) and 又 (hand), and it is explained as a length of ten chi.

Open 丈 →

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