上家 (shàng jiā) — (in games) the player whose turn comes just before yours; (more generally) the person seated immediately to one's left

Definition

In card or mahjong play, 上家 is the player who plays just before you — literally the 'upper house' in the seating order. The opposite side is 下家, the player who plays after you.

noun
(in games) the player whose turn comes just before yours(more generally) the person seated immediately to one's left
Measure word · 个
Easily confused

Examples

  • ，上家。
    Dǎ má jiàng de shí hou, wǒ shàng jiā dǎ le yì zhāng jiǔ tiáo.
    When playing mahjong, the player before me played a nine of bamboos.
  • ，。
    Nǐ zhù yì kàn shàng jiā chū de pái, kě néng huì cāi dào tā yào shén me.
    Pay attention to the tile the previous player discards — you might guess what they want.
  • ，上家。
    Zài pái zhuō shàng, shàng jiā wǎng wǎng huì yǐng xiǎng nǐ de cè lüè.
    At the card table, the player before you often influences your strategy.

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.

上shàngupper
家jiāplayer

上 indicates the position above or to the left, and 家 names a player or household; together they mean the player just before you.

Characters in this word

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

上 is drawn as a short horizontal line placed above a longer arc, marking a position above that arc.

Open 上 →

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
宀宀miánroof
Sound part声符shēngfú
𢑓
𢑓𢑓家jiā
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The early drawing of 家 showed a roof 宀 over a male-pig sign 𢑓 that gave the pronunciation; the lower part later changed shape.

Open 家 →

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