拼音
- yuàn (fourth tone, falling)
a courtyard, a walled compound; an institution housed in one — a hospital, a college, a cinema
字形拆解
Ideographic description
⿰阝完The sequence reads left to right and describes how the parts are arranged.
- 阝meaning partno entry yetThe mound radical 阜 on the left: a bank or wall of earth. Here it is the wall round the yard.
- 完sound partno entry yet完 wán for the sound; its own sense, "complete, whole", fits a compound closed on every side.
Mnemonic
The earth wall 阝 with 完 for the sound: a courtyard closed on all sides. Chinese institutions grew up inside exactly such compounds, so the word became their name: 医院 a hospital, 学院 a college, 电影院 a cinema, 住院 to be admitted as an inpatient. Remember the side — 阝 on the left is the mound; on the right it would be the city 邑, as in 都.
A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.