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光顾 (guāng gù) — to patronize (a store, restaurant, etc.), to honor with one's visit (as a customer)

Definition

Used by shops to welcome or thank customers — 'to patronize, honor us with your visit.' It is the customer-facing counterpart to the formal, guest-facing 光临.

verb
to patronize (a store, restaurant, etc.)to honor with one's visit (as a customer)

Examples

  • 光顾。
    Huān yíng gè wèi xīn lǎo gù kè guāng gù běn diàn.
    All new and returning customers are welcome to patronize our store.
  • 光顾，。
    Gǎn xiè nín guāng gù wǒ men de xiǎo diàn, zhè shì jīn tiān de yōu huì quàn.
    Thank you for visiting our little shop; here is today's coupon.
  • 光顾，。
    Zhè wèi kè rén shàng ge yuè guāng gù guò wǒ men chá guǎn, jīn tiān yòu lái le.
    This customer patronized our teahouse last month, and today he's come again.

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.

光guānghonor
顾gùvisit

光 conveys honor, and 顾 means visit, picturing a customer's honored visit.

Characters in this word

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

  • 火火huǒfire
  • 卩卩jiékneeling person

The shape 光 places 火 (fire) above 卩 (a kneeling person), showing fire over the head and the shining of light.

Open 光 →

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 顧; 顾 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yè
Sound part声符shēngfú
雇
雇gù顧gù
Same sound today

The traditional form 顧 combines 雇 as a sound part and 頁 as a meaning part; 顾 is the simplified form of 顧.

Open 顾 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Shopping & Errands

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