落户 (luò hù) — to settle (in a place); to establish residence; to set up home

Definition

落户 means to officially register residence in a place (tied to China's 户口 household registration system). Unlike 定居 (simply settling down long-term), 落户 emphasizes the bureaucratic step of getting local hukou status.

verb
to settle (in a place)to establish residenceto set up home

Examples

  • 落户。
    Wǒ men zuì zhōng zài yí gè xiǎo zhèn luò hù le.
    We finally settled in a small town.
  • 落户。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī xuǎn zé zài shàng hǎi luò hù.
    This company chose to establish itself in Shanghai.
  • ,。
    Tā yǐ jīng zài shàng hǎi luò le hù, ná dào le hù kǒu běn.
    He has already settled down in Shanghai and received his household registration booklet.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

落luòsettle
户hùhousehold

settle and household combine to mean establishing 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
艹Written in full as艸cǎo
Sound part声符shēngfú
洛
洛luò落luò
Same sound today

落 pairs 艹 with 洛; 洛 gives the sound, and 艹 relates to the meaning.

Open 落 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 戶; 户 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 戶 is a picture of half of a gate. The simplified 户 is a later shorthand, so its shape should not be read as the original parts.

Open 户 →

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