店家 (diàn jiā) — owner or manager of a shop, restaurant, or inn; shopkeeper

Definition

Colloquial, friendly term for a shop or restaurant owner, used when speaking to or about the person running the place. It sounds more casual than the formal 老板.

noun
owner or manager of a shoprestaurantor innshopkeeper
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 店家，。
    Nà ge diàn jiā rén hěn hǎo, zǒng shì gěi kè rén dǎ zhé.
    That shop owner is very nice, always giving customers discounts.
  • 店家。
    Wǒ men wèn diàn jiā yǒu méi yǒu xīn xiān de yú.
    We asked the shopkeeper if there was any fresh fish.
  • 店家。
    Zhè jiā cān tīng de diàn jiā shì yí wèi lǎo yé ye.
    The owner of this restaurant is an old grandpa.

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.

店diànshop
家jiāhousehold

店 refers to a shop, and 家 points to the household or person associated with it; together they mean the shop owner.

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
广广guǎnghouse built to depend on a cliff
Sound part声符shēngfú
占
占zhàn店diàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

店 shows 广, a house built to depend on a cliff, and 占, which gives the sound.

Open 店 →

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 →

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