Definition
宅 is a bound form (b.f.) meaning 'residence' or 'house'. It rarely stands alone in modern Chinese and instead appears in compounds like 住宅 (residence), 宅子 (house), and 宅院 (house with courtyard). In internet slang, 宅 also functions as a morpheme meaning 'homebody' or 'otaku' in words like 宅男 (otaku guy) and 宅女 (otaku girl) — this usage is very common among young people. Note that 宅 as a morpheme cannot be used independently without a suffix or preceding morpheme in everyday speech.
b.f.
(bound form) residencehouse (used in compound words such as 住宅, 宅子)(internet slang) homebodyotaku (in compounds like 宅男, 宅女)
Examples
- ，。Zhège zhù zhái hěn dà, jiàgé yě hěn gāo.This residence is very big and the price is also high.
- ，。Tā mǎi le yí gè xiǎo zhái zi, yí gè rén zhù hěn shūfu.He bought a small house; it's very comfortable living alone.
- ，宅。Tā zhěngtiān dāi zài fángjiān lǐ, shì gè diǎnxíng de zhái nán.He stays in his room all day; he's a typical otaku.
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