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客人 (kè rén) — guest; visitor; customer

Definition

General word for 'guest, visitor, customer' — someone who comes to a home, restaurant, or shop. 顾客 and 客户 are narrower, focused on buyers/clients.

noun
guestvisitorcustomer
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 客人。
    Jīn tiān jiā lǐ lái le liǎng wèi kè rén.
    Two guests came to our home today.
  • 客人？
    Zhè wèi kè rén yào diǎn shén me cài?
    What would this customer like to order?
  • 客人。
    kè rén Men zhèng zài kè tīng hē chá liáo tiān.
    The guests are drinking tea and chatting in the living room.

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.

客kèguest
人rénperson

The guest sense of 客 combines with the person sense of 人 to mean a visitor.

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
宀宀miánroof
Sound part声符shēngfú
各
各gè客kè
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 客, 宀 is a roof and 各 gives the sound; the character meant a guest.

Open 客 →

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

Grammar

Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 3HSK 2.0 Level 3Social Roles & Status2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words3000 Most Frequent Chinese Words5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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