ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

guest / customer

9 strokes · 宀 (roof radical) + 各 — someone arriving under your roof · HSK 1

Where 客 comes from

客 puts 各 (to arrive, in its old sense) under a roof 宀: one who arrives at your house — a guest. The roof welcomes; the character remembers.

客 in Chinese culture

客 rules Chinese hospitality: 客人 (guest), 请客 (to treat someone — with 请), 客气 ('guest air' — polite). 别客气 ('don't be polite') is what hosts say while heaping your bowl. 客家人, the Hakka, are literally 'guest families' — a people named for centuries of migration. And online, 黑客 (black guest) is a hacker: even intruders get the guest character.

Example

客气 kèqi — polite / courteous

别客气,多吃一点。
Bié kèqi, duō chī yìdiǎn.
Don't be polite — eat more.

How to remember it

Someone arriving 各 under your roof 宀 — a GUEST.

黑客 'black guest' = hacker; 博客 'broad guest' = blog. Chinese absorbs tech loanwords by making them guests.

Same sound, different tones

1st kē
science / branch
3rd kě
can / may
4th kè
guest

Words unlocked by 客

客人 kèrén
guest
客气 kèqi
polite
请客 qǐngkè
to treat (pay for) someone
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