TongTong
Sign in

商家 (shāng jiā) — merchant; business (company or store)

Definition

A 'merchant' or 'seller' — emphasizes the business or store as a commercial actor, unlike 商人 (the individual person who does business) or 商业 (the trade/industry as an abstract field).

noun
merchantbusiness (company or store)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 商家。
    Zhè jiā shāng jiā de shēng yì hěn hǎo.
    This merchant's business is very good.
  • 商家。
    Wǎng shàng yǒu hěn duō shāng jiā mài dōng xī.
    There are many merchants selling things online.
  • 商家。
    Zhè ge shāng jiā mài de dōng xī zhì liàng bú cuò.
    The quality of things sold by this business is pretty good.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

商shāngtrade or business
家jiāperson or firm engaged in it

商 points to trade or business, and 家 identifies a person or firm engaged in it.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 商 →

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
HSK 3.0 Level 5Business & Commerce

Browse more HSK 5 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.