自居 (zì jū) — to consider oneself (as); to claim to be (often…

Definition

Always appears in the 以…自居 frame ('X 自居') meaning 'to claim/pose as X'. Often carries a sense of pretension or self-appointment.

verb

to consider oneself (as)to claim to be (often with 以…自居, sometimes implying pretension)

自居，。
Tā zǒng yǐ zhuān jiā zì jū, qí shí dǒng de bìng bù duō.
He always considers himself an expert, but actually doesn't know that much.
自居，。
Tā yǐ lǐng dǎo zì jū, duì měi gè xì jié dōu yào chā shǒu.
She poses as a leader and meddles in every detail.
自居，。
Zhè wèi zuò jiā yǐ píng mín zì jū, zuò pǐn hěn jiē dì qì.
This writer considers himself a commoner, and his works are very down-to-earth.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

自zìoneself

居jūto occupy a position

自 names oneself and 居 names occupying a position, so together they mean to regard oneself as that position.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

自 originally drew a nose. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write 自, so the picture and the meaning are unrelated.

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

尸古居

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

古

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

居 is built from 尸 as the meaning part and 古 (gǔ) as the sound part.