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农家 (nóng jiā) — farming household; peasant family; (in compounds) farmhouse-style; rustic (e.g. 农家乐, 农家菜)

Definition

Literally 'farming household' — a rural family that does farm work, or, in compounds like 农家乐, the rustic/farmhouse style. Note the political nuance: 农家 is neutral, but 农民 is the more common term for 'farmer/peasant' in modern usage.

noun
farming householdpeasant family(in compounds) farmhouse-stylerustic (e.g. 农家乐, 农家菜)
Measure word · 户

Examples

  • 农家。
    Zhè jiā nóng jiā fàn diàn de cài dōu shì yòng zì jǐ zhǒng de shū cài zuò de.
    The dishes at this farmhouse restaurant are all made with vegetables they grow themselves.
  • 农家，。
    Zhōu mò qù nóng jiā lè zhù le yì wǎn, tǐ yàn le zhēn zhèng de xiāng cūn shēng huó.
    I spent a night at a farm-stay last weekend and experienced real rural life.
  • 农家，。
    Tā lái zì yí gè pǔ tōng de nóng jiā, cóng xiǎo jiù huì gān nóng huó.
    He comes from an ordinary farming family and has known how to do farm work since childhood.

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.

农nóngfarming
家jiāfamily

农 adds farming and 家 adds family or home, describing a household that farms.

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 農; 农 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 農 comes from 林 (vegetation) and 辰 (a hoe), showing a hoe among vegetation to remove weeds; the simplified 农 is a later abbreviation.

Open 农 →

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 →
Appears in
Agriculture & Farming

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