家财 (jiā cái) — family estate; family wealth

Definition

noun

family estatefamily wealth

家财。
Tā jiā lǐ yǒu hěn duō jiā cái.
He has a lot of family wealth at home.
家财。
Zǔ fù liú xià de dà bǐ jiā cái bāng zhù wǒ men dù guò le nán guān.
The large family estate left by our grandfather helped us through the hard times.
家财。
Tā men wèi le jiā cái de wèn tí zhēng chǎo bù xiū.
They argued endlessly over issues of family property.

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 points to family and 财 to wealth, together naming a household estate.

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 財; 财 is its simplified writing.

貝才財

Meaning part形符xíngfú

貝貝bèishell

Sound part声符shēngfú

才

Same sound today

The traditional form 財 has 貝 (shell) next to 才, which gives the sound; the simplified 财 is a later shorthand.