各家 (gè jiā) — various families; each family

Definition

各家 means 'each/every' family, school, or faction — a literary pronoun for varied groups with their own views or ways, not a polite singular term for one household.

pronoun
various familieseach family

Examples

  • 各家。
    gè jiā Dōu yǒu zì jǐ de shēng huó xí guàn.
    Each family has its own living habits.
  • 各家。
    Zhè ge wèn tí shè jí gè jiā de lì yì.
    This issue concerns the interests of various families.
  • 各家。
    gè jiā De shōu fèi biāo zhǔn bù tóng.
    The charging standards vary among different organizations.

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.

各gèeach
家jiāfamily

各 means each or various and 家 means family, giving each family.

Characters in this word

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

各 shows a sole of a foot (夂) coming into an entrance (口), for the sense of coming or entering.

Open 各 →

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 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.