乡里 (xiāng lǐ) — home village; one's native rural hometown; fellow villager(s); people from the same village/town

Definition

乡里 has two senses: the rural hometown itself (故乡), or the people from that same village (乡亲/同乡). In modern usage it usually means 'fellow villager'.

noun
home villageone's native rural hometownfellow villager(s)people from the same village/town

Examples

  • 乡里，。
    Tā lí kāi xiāng lǐ yǐ jīng sān shí nián le, dàn hái shì hěn huái niàn nà lǐ de shēng huó.
    He left his home village thirty years ago, but he still misses life there.
  • 乡里，。
    Zài chéng lǐ yù dào xiāng lǐ, zǒng jué de gé wài qīn qiè.
    When you run into a fellow villager in the city, you always feel especially close.
  • 乡里，。
    Zhè wèi lǎo rén yí bèi zi dōu méi chū guò xiāng lǐ, duì cūn wài de shì liǎo jiě hěn shǎo.
    This old man never left his home village his whole life; he knows little about what's outside the village.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

乡xiāngvillage
里lǐneighborhood

乡 and 里 refer to village and neighborhood, together meaning one's home town.

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 裡; 里 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 里 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (里, 里面) it is 裡; in others (公里) it is 里 or 裏.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
衤Written in full as衣yīclothes
Sound part声符shēngfú
里
里lǐ裡lǐ
Same sound today

The form 裡 pairs 衤 (clothes) with 里 as a sound component.

Open 里 →

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