外间 (wài jiān) — (noun) outer room (as opposed to inner room); (figurative) outside circles; external world; outsiders

Definition

外间 has two distinct senses: a physical 'outer room' (paired with 里间), and, used as 外间的人, 'people outside' / 'the outside world' (paired with 内部). The second sense is the one you'll meet in modern prose.

noun
outer room (as opposed to inner room)(figurative) outside circlesexternal worldoutsiders
Measure word · 间

Examples

  • 外间，。
    Zhè jiā diàn de wài jiān mài yī fu, lǐ jiān shì cāng kù.
    The outer room of this shop sells clothes, and the inner room is the warehouse.
  • 外间。
    Gōng sī nèi bù de shì bú yào ràng wài jiān de rén zhī dào.
    Don't let the people outside the company know about internal matters.
  • 外间。
    Tā duì wài wài jiān de kàn fǎ bú tài zài yì.
    He doesn't really care about the views of the outside world.

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.

外wàioutside
间jiānroom

外 points to the outside, while 间 denotes a room, giving the sense of an outer room.

Characters in this word

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
卜卜bǔ
Sound part声符shēngfú
月
月yuè外wài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

外 pairs 卜 with 月, a crescent moon; in its older form, the 卜 part had a horizontal bar extending outward, giving the sense of outside.

Open 外 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 间 →

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