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居家 (jū jiā) — to stay at home; to be at home; to keep house

Definition

More formal than the everyday 待在家 — emphasizes the lifestyle or arrangement of being/working at home (e.g. 居家办公 'work from home'), not just momentary location.

verb
to stay at hometo be at hometo keep house

Examples

  • 居家。
    Zuì jìn hěn duō gōng sī dōu ràng yuán gōng jū jiā bàn gōng.
    Recently, many companies have let employees work from home.
  • ，。
    Wǒ jū le jǐ tiān jiā, gǎn jué tè bié fàng sōng.
    I stayed at home for a few days and felt very relaxed.
  • 居家，。
    Tā xǐ huan jū jiā shēng huó, bù xǐ huan chū mén.
    She likes home life and doesn't like going out.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

居jūreside
家jiāhome

居 means 'reside' and 家 means 'home', giving staying at home.

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
尸尸shī
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ居jū
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

居 is built from 尸 as the meaning part and 古 (gǔ) as the sound part.

Open 居 →

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 →
Appears in
Daily RoutineHome & Housing

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