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家门 (jiā mén) — the door of one's house; family background, social standing, or reputation of a family; (formal) a member of one's own clan or family

Definition

家门 has two main senses: literally 'the door of one's house' (家门前 = in front of the house), and figuratively 'family reputation/background' (丢家门 = disgrace the family). The figurative sense is the one learners meet in idiomatic contexts.

noun
the door of one's housefamily backgroundsocial standingor reputation of a family(formal) a member of one's own clan or family

Examples

  • ，。
    Tā zhàn zài jiā mén qián, yóu yù le hěn jiǔ cái qiāo mén.
    He stood at the door of his house, hesitating for a long time before knocking.
  • ，家门。
    Zuò chū zhè zhǒng shì, zhēn shì diū jìn le jiā mén.
    Doing something like this really brings shame to the family.
  • 家门，。
    Tā shì wǒ men jiā mén de rén, nǐ yào hǎo hǎo zhào gù tā.
    He is a member of our clan; you should take good care of him.

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/family
门méndoor

The 家 home/family 门 door gives a house door, extended to family standing.

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 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 門; 门 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 門 pictures a gate as two door shapes side by side; the simplified 门 is a later shorthand.

Open 门 →
Appears in
Family & Kinship

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