同屋 (tóng wū) — to share a room (verb-object: to room together) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

同屋 is a separable verb-object phrase meaning 'to share a room (with someone)' — the object 屋 separates in usage: 同住一屋, 同了两年屋.

verb

to share a room (verb-object: to room together)

Examples

同屋。
Wǒ men liǎng gè rén tóng wū zhù le liǎng nián.
We two shared a room and lived together for two years.
，。
Wǒ men tóng le liǎng nián wū, guān xì hěn hǎo.
We shared a room for two years and had a good relationship.
同屋？
Nǐ yuàn yì hé wǒ tóng wū ma?
Are you willing to share a room with me?

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

“同” means to share or be together, and “屋” means room; together they describe sharing a room.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

同 originally drew a pipe. It is the old form of 筒.

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

室室shìroom

Sound part声符shēngfú

𡉉

𡉉𡉉屋wū

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

屋 comes from 室, meaning room, with 𡉉 for sound; its upper part later changed into an unrelated shape.

Appears in

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