邻居

Etymology & Components

The Chinese word 邻居 (línjū) for "neighbor" is composed of two characters: 邻 (lín) and 居 (jū). The character 邻 originally meant "to be close to" or "to be adjacent to". It is composed of the radical 门 (mén), which means "door", and the phonetic component 壬 (rén), which is a pictograph of a person standing. The character 居 originally meant "to dwell" or "to live in". It is composed of the radical 穴 (xué), which means "cave" or "hole", and the phonetic component 戈 (gē), which is a pictograph of a weapon.When combined, the characters 邻 and 居 form the word 邻居, which literally means "people who live close to each other". This word is used to refer to people who live in the same neighborhood or community. It can also be used to refer to people who live in the same building or apartment complex.