Chinese character for family: 家 (jiā)
The Chinese character for family is 家 (jiā). It means both family and home, as in 回家 (huí jiā, go home) and 家人 (jiārén, family members). For 'a family' as a unit, Chinese also uses 家庭 (jiātíng).
How 家 is built
家 has a roof 宀 on top and 豕 (shǐ), a pig, underneath. In ancient China, keeping pigs under or beside the house was a sign of a settled household, so a roof over a pig came to mean home and family. It is one of the most cited examples of how pictures combine in Chinese characters. 家 is identical in simplified and traditional Chinese.
家 jiā · home
- 宀 — roof
- 丶 — dot
- 冖mì — cover
- 豕shǐ — pig
- 一 — horizontal stroke
- 勿wù — must not
- 勹bāo — wrap shape
- 丿 — falling stroke
- 丿 — falling stroke
Origin hint: 宀 gives the meaning, 豕 gives the sound. (from the Make Me a Hanzi dataset; treat as a memory aid where history is uncertain)
How 家 is used
Other ways to say family
- 家人 jiārén — family members, the people
- 家庭 jiātíng — a family as a household unit
Before you use it as a tattoo or design: 家 means both 'home' and 'family' and is identical in both scripts, which makes it a safe and popular single-character tattoo.
Questions
What is the Chinese character for family?
家 (jiā) means “family”.
How do you pronounce 家?
家 is pronounced jiā.