小住 (xiǎo zhù) — to stay somewhere briefly | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literary, written-style verb for a short, leisurely stay somewhere — softer and more elegant than the everyday 住. Pairs naturally with 在 + place + 了 + duration.

verb

to stay somewhere briefly

Examples

小住。
Wǒ zài běi jīng xiǎo zhù le jǐ tiān.
I stayed in Beijing for a few days.
，小住。
Qù háng zhōu shí, wǒ men zài xī hú biān xiǎo zhù le liǎng zhōu.
When going to Hangzhou, we stayed by West Lake for two weeks.
小住。
Tā dǎ suàn zài xiāng xia xiǎo zhù yí duàn rì zi.
He plans to stay in the countryside for a period.

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.

小xiǎobriefly

小 means briefly, and 住 means to stay; together they describe staying somewhere for a short time.

Characters in this word

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

八八bāto divide; to separate
丨丨gǔnsmall object

The shape of 小 comes from three small dots, later elongated into its strokes; the apparent parts 八 and 丨 are a later way of seeing it.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

亻主住

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rén

Sound part声符shēngfú

主

主zhǔ住zhù

Same sound today

住 pairs 亻, the person radical (written fully as 人), with 主, which supplies the sound.

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.