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乡亲 (xiāng qīn) — fellow villager; someone from the same hometown (especially rural); local people; folks back home (collective reference)

Definition

乡亲 refers to the people from your home village, used collectively with warmth and nostalgia — the people, not the place (use 家乡 for the place itself). 老乡 is the more familiar way to address one such person directly.

noun
fellow villagersomeone from the same hometown (especially rural)local peoplefolks back home (collective reference)
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 乡亲，。
    xiāng qīn Men tīng shuō tā huí lái le, dōu lái kàn tā.
    When the villagers heard he was back, they all came to see him.
  • ，乡亲。
    Tā lí kāi jiā xiāng duō nián, dàn yì zhí diàn jì zhe xiāng qīn.
    He left his hometown for many years but has always been thinking of the folks back home.
  • ，乡亲。
    Zhè cì huí xiāng, tā shòu dào le xiāng qīn de rè qíng jiē dài.
    On this return to his hometown, he received a warm welcome from the local people.

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.

乡xiānghometown
亲qīnkin

乡 specifies the hometown and 亲 refers to kin or folks, so the word means fellow villagers.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 鄉; 乡 is its simplified writing.

  • 𠨍𠨍𠨍two people facing each other
  • 皀皀jía round-mouthed food vessel

The traditional form 鄉 combines two people facing each other with a round-mouthed food vessel, depicting a feast. The village meaning is connected to this feasting event.

Open 乡 →

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 親; 亲 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
見見jiànsee
Sound part声符shēngfú
辛
辛xīn親qīn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 親 uses 見 (see) for sense and 辛 (a chisel) for sound; the simplified 亲 is a shorthand and its parts are not the historical components.

Open 亲 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Countryside & RuralFriends & Social

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