房 fáng — house, building; a room; a branch of a family
fáng (second tone, rising)
house, building; a room; a branch of a family
8 strokesRadical 戶Frequency #421
Pinyin
- fáng (second tone, rising)
house, building; a room; a branch of a family
Character breakdown
Ideographic description
⿸户方The sequence reads left to right and describes how the parts are arranged.
- 户meaning partno entry yetA single-leaf door: the room has a door of its own.
- 方sound partno entry yet方 fāng for the sound.
Mnemonic
A door 户 with 方 fāng under it for the sound. The original 房 was a side chamber opening off the main hall — one door, one room — and that is still the sense in 房间. Modern uses build outwards from it: 房子 a house, 楼房 a block of flats, 厨房 a kitchen, 房东 a landlord, literally the east side of the house.
A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.