老宅 (lǎo zhái) — old family home, ancestral residence

Definition

An older family property, often passed down through generations — carries a sense of heritage and history that plain 房子 or 家 lacks.

noun

old family homeancestral residence

Measure word · 座

老宅。
Tā měi nián chūn jié dōu huí lǎo zhái kàn wàng fù mǔ.
He goes back to the old family home every Spring Festival to visit his parents.
老宅。
Zhè zuò lǎo zhái yǐ jīng yǒu shàng bǎi nián de lì shǐ le.
This ancestral home has a history of over a hundred years.
老宅。
Tā men jué dìng bǎ lǎo zhái gǎi zào chéng yì jiā mín sù.
They decided to renovate the old family home into a guesthouse.

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.

宅zháiresidence

老 means old and 宅 means home, so the word refers to an old family residence.

Characters in this word

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

The shape 老 combines 人 (man), 毛 (hair), and 匕 (cane), showing a man with long hair leaning on a cane.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

宀乇宅

Meaning part形符xíngfú

宀宀miánroof

Sound part声符shēngfú

乇

乇tuō宅zhái

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 宅, the 宀 part is a roof, and the 乇 part gives the sound.