家具 (jiā jù) — furniture | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

furniture

Measure word · 件, 套

Easily confused

家具。
Wǒ men jiā de jiā jù dōu shì xīn de.
The furniture in our house is all new.
家具。
Zhè tào jiā jù huā le hěn duō qián.
This set of furniture cost a lot of money.
家具。
Wǒ xiǎng mǎi yí jiàn jiā jù fàng zài kè tīng.
I want to buy a piece of furniture to put in the living room.

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.

具jùimplement; tool

家 means home and 具 means implements; together they name the articles used in a household.

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.

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

具 pairs 廾 (two hands) with 鼎 (a cauldron), showing hands working with a cauldron to prepare food.

Appears in