建房 (jiàn fáng) — to build a house; to construct a building

Definition

verb
to build a houseto construct a building

Examples

  • 建房。
    Tā men dǎ suàn míng nián jiàn fáng.
    They plan to build a house next year.
  • 建房。
    Zhè ge gōng sī zhuān mén fù zé jiàn fáng.
    This company specializes in building houses.
  • 建房。
    Zhèng fǔ bāng zhù nóng mín jiàn fáng.
    The government helps farmers build houses.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

建jiànbuild
房fánghouse

建 means to build, and 房 means a house; together they describe constructing a building.

Characters in this word

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

  • 廴廴yǐn
  • 聿聿yù

The shape 建 shows 廴 and 聿, but it comes from an older drawing of a hand planting a pole into a base; the lower part of 聿 is not a brush.

Open 建 →

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
戶戶hùdoor
Sound part声符shēngfú
方
方fāng房fáng
Same sound today

房 pairs 戶 (door) with 方 (fāng) as a sound part; 方 can also fit 'side,' as in a side room beside the main room.

Open 房 →

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