店 (diàn): shop

Measure Word

一家店 jiā

Meanings

1 shop
2 store
3 inn

Characters

店

diàn

shop; store; inn

Shelter radical 广 + 占 (to occupy) — occupying a sheltered space for business

Examples

这家店的东西很好。

Zhè jiā diàn de dōngxi hěn hǎo.

The things in this shop are great.

我想开一家咖啡店。

Wǒ xiǎng kāi yì jiā kāfēidiàn.

I want to open a coffee shop.

这家店几点关门？

Zhè jiā diàn jǐ diǎn guānmén?

What time does this shop close?

Tips

usage

店 is often combined with a product type: 书店 (bookshop), 花店 (flower shop), 药店 (pharmacy), 饭店 (restaurant/hotel).

grammar

The measure word for shops is 家, not 个.

Components

radical

广 guǎng

shelter; lean-to building

Shelter radical wrapping the upper-left — the indexing radical. Pictures an open-front lean-to building, perfect for a shop with its frontage open to the street. Marks 店 as a public-facing structure, alongside 床 (bed-frame), 庭 (courtyard), 库 (storehouse), 府 (mansion).

phonetic

占 zhàn

to occupy (here phonetic)

Inner 占 supplies the sound: zhàn → diàn, with regular Old Chinese sibilant/dental drift. Faint semantic resonance — a shop occupies a fixed spot. Same phonetic family yields 站 (station), 沾 (touch), 粘 (sticky). Compound: a building occupied for trade.