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膝下 (xī xià) — (in letters) self-address to one's parents, implying filial respect; (formal/literary) one's children, especially young ones living at home

Definition

Literary/formal noun. As a self-address to one's parents in letters, it signals filial respect ('your son/daughter, at your knee'). As a third-person noun, it means one's children — younger kids still living at home.

noun
(in letters) self-address to one's parentsimplying filial respect(formal/literary) one's children, especially young ones living at home

Examples

  • 膝下，。
    Fù qīn dà rén xī xià, ér zài wài yí qiè ān hǎo.
    Dear Father, your son is doing well outside.
  • ，。
    Tā xī xià ér nǚ chéng qún, wǎn nián shí fēn xìng fú.
    He has many children (by his knee); his old age is very happy.
  • ，。
    Fù mǔ xī xià chéng huān, shì rén shēng yí dà lè shì.
    Bringing joy to one's parents (at their knee) is a great pleasure in 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.

膝xīknee
下xiàbelow

Below the knee evokes children standing at a parent's feet.

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
⺼Written in full as肉ròumeat, body
Sound part声符shēngfú
桼
桼qī膝xī
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 膝, ⺼ is the body form of 肉, marking a body part, and 桼 gives the sound.

Open 膝 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

Open 下 →
Appears in
Family & Kinship

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