妻室 (qī shì) — (formal) wife, esp. in legal or literary contex…

Definition

Formal/literary word for 'wife,' mainly seen in legal, classical, or official contexts. Pinyin is qī (not qīshì as a single word).

noun

(formal) wife, esp. in legal or literary contexts

Measure word · 个

妻室。
Tā zhì jīn shàng wèi qǔ qī shì.
He has not yet taken a wife to this day.
，妻室。
Fǎ lǜ shàng, qī shì xiǎng yǒu jì chéng quán.
Legally, the wife has inheritance rights.
""妻室。
Gǔ rén cháng yǐ " xián nèi zhù " chēng sòng qī shì.
Ancient people often praised a wife as a 'virtuous helpmate'.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

妻 and 室 both point to a wife, together forming a formal term for legal wife.

Characters in this word

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

妻 combines 肀, a hand grabbing hair, with 女, a woman, showing a man grabbing a woman's hair to show ownership.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

宀至室

Meaning part形符xíngfú

宀宀miánroof

Sound part声符shēngfú

至

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

室 puts 宀 (roof) over 至, the spot where someone stops, giving the meaning of a house or residence.