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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

家

jiā
home
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 1
  • radical 宀
  • 10 strokes
  • 價
  • 价

Etymology graph

  • inherited
  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
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Origin

家 is a phono-semantic compound. According to the oracle bone script, it combines the semantic component 宀, representing a type of deep house with walls on all four sides and a roof, with the phonetic component 𢑓 (male pig). The character 嫁 (to give a girl in marriage) is the exoactive of 家.

In later developments, the phonetic component was corrupted to 豕. The Shuowen Jiezi analyzed the character as a phono-semantic compound consisting of the semantic 宀 and an abbreviated phonetic 豭 (boar; male pig). However, etymologies based on this modern version of the phonetic component are considered folk etymologies because they overlook the original component 𢑓.

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

「家」在字形構成上屬於形聲字。根據甲骨文的記載，該字由表示屋頂的「宀」作為義符，並以代表公豬的「𢑓」作為聲符（OC *kraː）。《說文解字》則記載其為「居也」，並認為是從「宀」，由「豭」的簡省聲組成。然而，現代版本的聲符「豕」與原始組件「𢑓」不同，因此基於「豕」的字源分析被視為民間誤傳。

在語言關聯方面，「家」與藏語的 མཁར (mkhar，意為城堡或房屋) 同源。此外，「家」也是「嫁」（OC *kraːs，意為將女子嫁出）的外向動詞形式。另一個同源詞為「姑」（gū）。

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese宀 “a type of deep house with walls on all four sides, a roof, a main hall, and back rooms”
  • soundChinese𢑓 “pig.”
  • soundChinese豭 “boar; male pig”
    • meaningChinese豕 “pig; boar”
    • soundChinese叚 “original form of 假 (jiǎ, “to borrow”)”
      • ideaChinese爪 “claw (of animal, bird); talon; paw; nail”
      • ideaChinese又 “again; once more”
      • ideaChinese石 “stone; rock (Classifier: 嚿 c; 塊／块 c)”

Related: Tibetan མཁར

Words built on it: 大家, 家人, 家庭, 作家, 回家, 國家, 家具, 在家, 人家, 搬家, 全家, 老家

Wiktionary etymology text
Etymology 1

Oracle bone script: Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *kraː): semantic 宀 (“roof”) + phonetic 𢑓 (xiá, “male pig”). An archaic variant closer to the original drawing is 𡩀. See 𢑓 (xiá) for more. Similar to 冡.

Later the phonetic component have been corrupted to 豕, so Shuowen Jiezi erroneously analyzed it as Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *kraː): semantic 宀 (“roof”) + abbreviated phonetic 豭 (OC *kraː, “pig”).

All etymologies based on the modern version of the phonetic component (豕) are folk etymologies since they miss the original component (𢑓).

Cognate with Tibetan མཁར (mkhar, “castle; house”) (Schuessler, 2007).

嫁 (OC *kraːs, “to give a girl in marriage”) is the exoactive of 家 (OC *kraː, “house; household; family”).

Etymology 3

For pronunciation and definitions of 家 – see 傢 (“stubborn, obstinate, intransigent”).

(This character is the simplified form of 傢).

Notes:

Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Etymology 4

Cognate with 姑 (gū).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. home
  2. family; household (Classifier: 頭／头 c)
  3. my
  4. domesticated; domestic
  5. Classifier for families, businesses and companies.
  6. school of thought; philosophical school

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

家：居也。从宀，豭省聲。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 親人共同生活的場所。 例：家庭
  2. 家中的。 例：家事、家產
  3. 尊稱有某種專門學識或專門技術的人。 例：專家、文學家、科學家
  4. 學術流派。 例：儒家、道家、百家爭鳴
  5. 經營某種行業或具有某種身分的人。 例：商家、店家、少東家
  6. 自稱或稱別人。 例：自家、咱家、婦道人家

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 家 was written 字形演變

  1. 家 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 家 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 家 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 家 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 家 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 家 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 家