衣帽间 (yī mào jiān) — cloakroom, coatroom (a room for storing coats, hats, and other outerwear)

Definition

noun
cloakroomcoatroom (a room for storing coats, hats, and other outerwear)
Measure word · 间

Examples

  • 衣帽间。
    Qǐng bǎ wài tào fàng zài yī mào jiān lǐ.
    Please put your coat in the cloakroom.
  • 衣帽间。
    Jù yuàn mén kǒu yǒu yí gè hěn dà de yī mào jiān.
    There is a very large cloakroom at the entrance of the theater.
  • ，衣帽间。
    Jìn bó wù guǎn qián, qǐng jiāng yǔ sǎn cún rù yī mào jiān.
    Before entering the museum, please store your umbrella in the coatroom.

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.

衣帽clothes and hats
衣yīclothes帽màohat
联合Side by side
间jiānroom

衣 and 帽 name clothes and hats, and 间 is a room, so it is a room for storing them.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 衣 comes from an outline of the chest and upper clothing.

Open 衣 →

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
巾巾jīncloth
Sound part声符shēngfú
冒
冒mào帽mào
Same sound today

帽 uses 巾 (cloth) for the meaning and 冒 for the sound. The earlier form 冃 was later written with 目 and 巾 added.

Open 帽 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 间 →
Appears in
Rooms & Spaces

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