行 (háng): row; line

Meanings

1 row; line
2 line of business; trade; profession
3 commercial firm
4 to rank (siblings by age)
5 classifier for rows or lines

Characters

行

háng

row; line

Examples

HSK 1

你是做哪一行的？

Nǐ shì zuò nǎ yī háng de?

What line of work are you in?

HSK 1

他在家里行三。

Tā zài jiālǐ háng sān.

He's the third in his family (third oldest sibling).

HSK 1

请写两行字。

Qǐng xiě liǎng háng zì.

Please write two lines of characters.

HSK 2

他在银行工作。

Tā zài yínháng gōngzuò.

He works at a bank.

Tips

usage

The háng reading clusters into three big families. 1) Banks and firms: 银行, 分行, 支行, 央行. 2) Trades and professions: 行业, 内行, 外行, 改行, 三百六十行. 3) Rows / ranking: 行列, 排行, 一目十行.

mistakes

Watch for compounds that exist in BOTH readings with different meanings: 一行 (xíng) = 'a party of travelers / a delegation', but 一行 (háng) = 'one row / one line (of text)'. 车行 (háng) = 'car dealership', but 车行 (xíng) = 'to drive (of vehicles)'. Pick the reading that fits the meaning, not the other way round.

culture

The 'big four' state banks are routinely clipped to two-char abbreviations using 行: 工行 (ICBC), 建行 (CCB), 农行 (ABC), 中行 (BOC). The proverb 三百六十行，行行出状元 ('every trade produces its top scholar') celebrates dignity across all professions.

Components

pictograph

行 háng

row; line; trade; firm

Same crossroads pictograph as the xíng reading - two paths 彳 and 亍 meeting. The háng reading takes the 'lanes themselves' interpretation: parallel paths became 'rows / lines', then by metaphor 'lines of business / trades', and (via a shop's row of goods) 'commercial firm'. Same picture as xíng, different sense extension; the two readings have coexisted since classical times.

Radical

Walk Kangxi #144

The 'walk/road' radical. Originally a pictograph of a crossroads — 彳 (left half) plus 亍 (right half) — depicting paths leading in opposite directions. Indexes a small set of motion and street characters: 街 (street), 衍 (extend), 衡 (balance), 衢 (thoroughfare). Sandwich-shape: the radical opens left and right while a phonetic sits in the middle.