购房 (gòu fáng) — (formal) to purchase a house, to buy a property; (formal) house purchase, property acquisition

Definition

Formal written term for buying a house, used in news, policy, and real-estate contexts rather than everyday speech (where you'd say 买房).

(formal) to purchase a houseto buy a property(formal) house purchaseproperty acquisition

Examples

  • 购房，。
    Tā zuì jìn dǎ suàn gòu fáng, suǒ yǐ yì zhí zài kàn fáng zi.
    He plans to purchase a house recently, so he's been looking at houses.
  • 购房，。
    Zhèng fǔ chū tái le xīn de gòu fáng zhèng cè, jiàng dī le dài kuǎn lì lǜ.
    The government introduced a new house purchase policy, lowering loan interest rates.
  • 购房，。
    Zài gòu fáng guò chéng zhōng, yào zǐ xì jiǎn chá hé tong tiáo kuǎn.
    During the house purchase process, you should carefully check the contract terms.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

购gòubuy
房fánghouse

购 means buy and 房 means house, meaning buying a house.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 購; 购 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèishellfish
Sound part声符shēngfú
冓
冓gòu購gòu
Same sound today

The traditional form 購 pairs 貝, a shellfish, with 冓, which gives the sound; the simplified 购 is a later shorthand.

Open 购 →

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 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.