分居 (fēn jū) — to live apart (of spouses or family members) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literally 'divide + live', it means a married couple living in separate homes while still legally married — different from 离婚 (legally divorced).

verb

to live apart (of spouses or family members)

Examples

分居。
Tā men fū qī fēn jū yǐ jīng sān nián le.
The couple has been living apart for three years.
，。
Tā men fēn le sān nián jū, zuì hòu hái shì lí hūn le.
They were separated for three years and finally got divorced.
，分居。
Yóu yú gōng zuò yuán yīn, tā men bù dé bù fēn jū.
Because of work reasons, they have to live apart.

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.

分 means apart and 居 means live, giving the idea of living separately.

Characters in this word

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

八刀分

八八bāto separate
刀刀dāoknife

分 pairs 八 (to separate) with 刀 (knife), showing something cut apart with a knife.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

尸古居

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

古

古gǔ居jū

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

居 is built from 尸 as the meaning part and 古 (gǔ) as the sound part.

Appears in

Romance & Marriage

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