家眷 (jiā juàn) — wife and children; family dependents (formal/literary)

Definition

Literary/formal word for 'one's family dependents' — wife and children, or the household one supports. Strongly literary register, so in modern speech 家人 or 家属 fits better.

noun
wife and childrenfamily dependents (formal/literary)

Examples

  • 家眷。
    Tā dài zhe jiā juàn lí kāi le jiā xiāng.
    He left his hometown with his family dependents.
  • 家眷。
    Zhè wèi guān yuán de jiā juàn dōu zhù zài dà fáng zi lǐ.
    This official's family all live in a large house.
  • ，家眷。
    Zhàn zhēng zhōng, tā shī qù le suǒ yǒu de jiā juàn.
    During the war, he lost all his family dependents.

Origin

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.

家jiāfamily
眷juànkin

家 and 眷 both refer to family or kin, so it means one's family dependents.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
目目mùeye
Sound part声符shēngfú
龹
龹龹眷juàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

眷 combines 目 (eye) with 龹; 目 is the meaning part and 龹 is the sound part.

Open 眷 →

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