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开房间 (kāi fáng jiān) — (v.o.) to book/rent a hotel room; (v.o., colloquial euphemism) to get a hotel room for a sexual encounter; to 'get a room'

Definition

A verb-object phrase: literally 'open a room'. Literally means to book/rent a hotel room, but is also widely used as a euphemism for checking into a room for a sexual encounter. Context makes which sense is meant clear.

verb
(v.o.) to book/rent a hotel room(v.o., colloquial euphemism) to get a hotel room for a sexual encounterto 'get a room'

Examples

  • ，开房间。
    Wǒ míng tiān yào qù běi jīng chū chāi, xiān zài wǎng shàng kāi fáng jiān.
    I need to go to Beijing on a business trip tomorrow, so I'll book a hotel room online first.
  • ，。
    Wǒ men zài zhè jiā jiǔ diàn kāi le yí gè fáng jiān, hěn gān jìng.
    We booked a room at this hotel, and it's very clean.
  • 开房间。
    Tā men liǎng gè rén tōu tōu qù kāi fáng jiān le.
    The two of them secretly went to get a room.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

开kāibook
房间room
房fángroom间jiānroom
联合Coordinate

开 points to securing or booking, and 房 plus 间 picture a room; together it means to get a room.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 開; 开 is its simplified writing.

  • 門門méndoor
  • 一一yīlatch and/or wooden pole that shuts a door
  • 廾廾gǒnga pair of hands

The traditional form 開 shows 廾, a pair of hands, and 一, a latch or pole, inside 門, a door: hands opening a latched door. The simplified 开 is a shorthand form, so its parts are not the original pieces.

Open 开 →

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 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 间 →
Appears in
Accommodation

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