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家人 (jiā rén) — family member

Definition

家人 means your family members — the people in your household or close kin. Unlike 家庭 (the family as a unit/household), 家人 refers to the people themselves. Narrower than 亲人? No — 亲人 is the closer, immediate relatives.

noun
family member
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 家人。
    Wǒ de jiā rén lái le.
    My family member(s) have come.
  • 家人。
    Tā de jiā rén hěn duō.
    He has many family members.
  • 家人。
    Wǒ ài wǒ de jiā rén.
    I love my family members.

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.

家jiāfamily
人rénperson

家 means family and 人 means person; together they name a person belonging to the family.

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
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 →

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 →
Appears in
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