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

他在银行工作。

Tā zài yínháng gōngzuò.

He works at a bank.

你是做哪一行的？

Nǐ shì zuò nǎ yī háng de?

What line of work are you in?

他在家里行三。

Tā zài jiālǐ háng sān.

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

请写两行字。

Qǐng xiě liǎng háng zì.

Please write two lines of characters.

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.