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家电 (jiā diàn) — home appliance, household electrical appliance

Definition

家电 specifically means home/household electrical appliances (fridges, washers, etc.). 电器 is the broader term for any electrical device; 家用 is just the 'home-use' adjective/noun, not appliances themselves.

noun
home appliancehousehold electrical appliance
Measure word · 台

Examples

  • 家电。
    Wǒ zài wǎng shàng mǎi le yì tái xīn jiā diàn.
    I bought a new home appliance online.
  • 家电，。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī de jiā diàn zhì liàng hěn hǎo, jià gé yě hé lǐ.
    This company's home appliances are of good quality and reasonably priced.
  • 家电，。
    Jiā lǐ de jiā diàn huài le, xū yào zhǎo rén xiū yí xià.
    The home appliances at home are broken and need someone to fix them.

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jiāhome
电diànelectric

家 means home, 电 means electric; together they abbreviate household appliances.

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 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 電; 电 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
雨雨yǔrain
Sound part声符shēngfú
申
申shēn電diàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For the traditional form 電, 雨 (rain) sits with 申, read shēn and meaning lightning.

Open 电 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5Home & Housing

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