拼音
- diàn (fourth tone, falling)
a shop, a store; an inn
字形拆解
Ideographic description
⿸广占The sequence reads left to right and describes how the parts are arranged.
- 广meaning partno entry yetA building open at the front — exactly what a shop is.
- 占sound partno entry yet占 zhān / zhàn for the sound; on its own it means to take up a place, which sits well with a shop occupying its pitch.
Mnemonic
The lean-to 广 with 占 under it for the sound: a roofed frontage open to the street, which is what a shop was and largely still is. The word is a suffix in practice — say what is sold and add it: 书店 a bookshop, 商店 a general store, 饭店 a restaurant or, in city names, a hotel.
A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.