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私房 (sī fáng) — privately owned house, private residence

Definition

私房 (sīfang) is a private residence — a house or building owned and kept by an individual or family. Often used for older or traditional homes, as in the example of a 餐厅 in an old 私房.

noun
privately owned houseprivate residence
Measure word · 套

Examples

  • 私房。
    Zhè dòng sī fáng shì tā zǔ fù liú xià de.
    This private house was left to him by his grandfather.
  • 私房，。
    Tā zài jiāo qū mǎi le yí chù sī fáng, zhǔn bèi tuì xiū hòu zhù.
    He bought a private house in the suburbs and plans to live there after retirement.
  • 私房。
    Zhè jiā cān tīng kāi zài yí zuò gǔ lǎo de sī fáng lǐ.
    This restaurant is run in an old private residence.

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.

私sīprivate
房fángroom/house

“私” means private and “房” means room or house, so it denotes a privately owned residence.

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
禾禾hé
Sound part声符shēngfú
厶
厶sī私sī
Same sound today

私 combines 禾 and 厶; 厶 originally represented the word, and 禾 was added later.

Open 私 →

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 →
Appears in
Home & Housing

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