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寄养 (jì yǎng) — to foster (a child/pet); to place (someone) in another's care (often implying dependency)

Definition

寄养 (jìyǎng) means placing a child or pet in someone else's long-term care — a separable verb (寄…养…) used with 把/被. The dependency is prolonged, unlike a short stay.

verb
to foster (a child/pet)to place (someone) in another's care (often implying dependency)

Examples

  • 寄养。
    Tā bǎ hái zi jì yǎng zài yé ye jiā.
    She fostered her child at grandpa's house.
  • 寄养。
    Zhè zhī xiǎo gǒu bèi jì yǎng zài péng you jiā.
    This puppy was fostered at a friend's house.
  • 寄养。
    Tā cóng xiǎo jiù bèi jì yǎng zài qīn qi jiā.
    From a young age, he was fostered with relatives.

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.

寄jìentrust
养yǎngraise

“寄” means entrust and “养” means raise, together referring to raising by entrusting to another's care.

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miánhouse
Sound part声符shēngfú
奇
奇qí寄jì
Same sound today

The 宀 part shows a roof, and 奇 gives the sound. Together they point to staying or lodging away from home.

Open 寄 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 養; 养 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 養 uses 羊 as a sound part and 食 as a meaning part.

Open 养 →
Appears in
Family & Kinship

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