话说汉字“房” Variations on the Usage of Chinese Character “房”

video link：http://youtu.be/3BQkAUBfZ7w

“房”的本义为正室两旁的房间，是一个形声字。其外形很像一扇门，下面的

“方”表声，同时“方”有并列的含义。现在，“房”泛指房子，房间，也可

指家族的一支，如“远房亲戚”。旧中国实行“一夫多妻制”，故老婆们就被

称为“大房，二房，三房……”。有趣吧？！

The basic meaning of the word “Fang2”refers to rooms located on

both sides of a reception room in a traditional Chinese house. The

outer part looks very much like a door while the lower component

provides the phonetic but also has other meanings. Nowadays the

character “fang2” is used as a general reference to houses or rooms

within a house, but it can also refer to family members as in

“Yuan2fang2qin1qi” which refers to “distant relatives”. In pre-

revolution China, when polygamy was permissible, wives were referred

to as “Da4fang2”(main wife), “Er4 fang2”(number two wife),

“San1fang2” (number 3 wife) and so on.

从下面的顺口溜，你可以了解到一些“房”的广泛用法。

From the following rhyme you can learn more about the wide variety of

meanings of the word “fang2”.

这年头， 愁的都是房事！

男人愁私房，女人愁乳房，老人愁心房，大学生愁开房，

打工愁租房，住院愁病房，分娩愁产房，结婚的愁新房，

老百姓愁住房，开发商愁买房，小市民愁拆房，企业家愁账房，

制片人愁票房，富人愁二房，贪赃的愁班房……

The idea is to talk about all those things that we worry about using

the word “fang2”.

Men always worry about their secrets, women worry about their breasts,

old people worry about their heart condition, university students

worry about finding digs, workers worry about paying the rent,

patients worry about hospital wards, pregnant women worry about the

delivery room, the newly married worry about finding an affordable

first home, the public worries about having a place to live, business

worry about whether they can sell their properties, the ordinary

citizens worry that their houses might be demolished, company bosses

worry about their accounts, film directors worry about sales at the

ticket office, rich men worry about their mistresses and the corrupt

worry about prison…

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