家 (jiā): home

Meanings

1 home
2 family
3 house

Characters

家

jiā

home; family

宀 (roof) + 豕 (pig) — a pig under a roof meant a settled household.

Examples

我想回家。

Wǒ xiǎng huíjiā.

I want to go home.

你家在哪儿？

Nǐ jiā zài nǎr?

Where is your home?

我家有五个人。

Wǒ jiā yǒu wǔ gè rén.

There are five people in my family.

Tips

history

The character 家 shows a pig (豕) under a roof (宀). In ancient China, keeping pigs under the roof was a sign of a settled household.

usage

家 doubles as a suffix meaning 'expert' or 'specialist': 科学家 (scientist), 画家 (painter), 音乐家 (musician).

Components

radical

宀 mián

roof; cover

Top roof radical — the indexing component. The roof shelters the household, the literal walls and ceiling that define a home. 宀 anchors the dwelling family: 安 (peace under roof), 室 (room), 守 (guard), 客 (guest), 完 (complete).

semantic

豕 shǐ

pig; swine

Bottom 豕 — pig. In ancient agrarian China, keeping a pig under the roof was the mark of a settled household; pigs converted scraps into protein and were a household's stored wealth. The whole character is a compound ideograph: roof + pig = home. 豕 also lends its shape to 象 (elephant) and 豪 (heroic, originally a porcupine).