家谱 (jiā pǔ) — family tree; genealogy | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

family treegenealogy

家谱。
Wǒ men jiā de jiā pǔ kě yǐ zhuī sù dào míng cháo.
Our family tree can be traced back to the Ming dynasty.
家谱。
Tā huā le hěn duō shí jiān yán jiū zì jǐ de jiā pǔ.
He spent a lot of time researching his own family tree.
。
Zhè běn jiā pǔ jì zǎi le èr shí dài rén de míng zì.
This genealogy records the names of twenty generations.

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.

谱pǔregister

家 means family and 谱 is a register; together they mean a family genealogy.

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.

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 譜; 谱 is its simplified writing.

言普譜

Meaning part形符xíngfú

言言yánsound

Sound part声符shēngfú

普

普pǔ譜pǔ(r)

Same sound today

In the traditional form 譜, 言 relates to sound and 普 gives the pronunciation; this explanation is about 譜, not the simplified 谱.

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