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籍贯 (jí guàn) — one's native place; place of ancestry; registered birthplace

Definition

Formal/official word for one's registered birthplace, used on forms and documents. More official than 家乡; 祖籍 focuses specifically on the ancestral origin traced through family lines.

noun
one's native placeplace of ancestryregistered birthplace

Examples

  • 籍贯。
    Qǐng gào sù wǒ nǐ de jí guàn.
    Please tell me your native place.
  • 籍贯浙。
    Tā de jí guàn shì zhè jiāng háng zhōu.
    His native place is Hangzhou, Zhejiang.
  • 籍贯。
    Biǎo gé shàng xū yào tián xiě jí guàn.
    The form requires filling in the place of ancestry.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

籍jínative place
贯guànplace of origin

Both 籍 and 贯 refer to one’s native place, together naming the place of ancestry.

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
𥫗Written in full as竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
耤
耤jí籍jí
Same sound today

籍 pairs 𥫗 (bamboo, written as 竹) with 耤 for the sound. The bamboo part is for bamboo census books.

Open 籍 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 貫; 贯 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 貫 originally showed two shells strung together; the simplified 贯 is a later abbreviation.

Open 贯 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6

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