原籍 (yuán jí) — ancestral home, place of origin (of one's family)

Definition

Refers to the place one's family originally comes from — the ancestral hometown registered on forms, not where you actually live or were born. Distinct from 出生地 (place of birth) and 籍贯 (broader regional origin).

noun
ancestral homeplace of origin (of one's family)

Examples

  • 原籍，。
    Wǒ de yuán jí shì shān dōng, dàn wǒ chū shēng zài běi jīng.
    My ancestral home is Shandong, but I was born in Beijing.
  • 原籍，。
    Tā de yuán jí zài guǎng dōng, kě shì tā cóng méi qù guò.
    His ancestral home is in Guangdong, but he has never been there.
  • 原籍。
    Zhè zhāng biǎo gé shàng yào tián yuán jí.
    You need to fill in your ancestral home on this form.

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.

原yuánoriginal
籍jíregistered home

“原” means original or former, and “籍” refers to registered home, together giving ancestral domicile.

Characters in this word

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

原 combines 泉 (spring) and 厂 (cliff), picturing a spring bursting from a cliff-side, which gives the sense of origin or source.

Open 原 →

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
𥫗Written in full as竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
耤
耤jí籍jí
Same sound today

籍 pairs 𥫗 (bamboo, written as 竹) with 耤 for the sound. The bamboo part is for bamboo census books.

Open 籍 →

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