It is a phono-semantic compound, made up of:


house

 (집 면, “roof/house”) — indicating the meaning (someone inside a house);


each, every, each one individually

 (각, “each/every”) — providing the sound.

Beyond simply “guest,” the character 客 is also used in words implying an outsider, stranger, or external party, i.e., someone distinct from the self or the internal group.

Characters

Words

Vocabulary

to guard, to defend, to protect, to keep, to observe

peaceful, calm, secure, safe, at ease

complete, whole, perfect, to finish, to bring to an end

ancestral hall, lineage, clan

government position, official, bureaucrat

space, universe, infinite time

to decide, to settle, to determine

to be fitting, to be appropriate, to be proper

guest, visitor

to announce, proclaim, declare, to spread, to make known

house, room, chamber

palace, royal residence, temple, shrine, large house, mansion

to harm, to injure, to damage, to be detrimental

home, family, household

appearance, to contain, to accept

to lodge, to stay overnight, to sleep

to send, to post, to mail, to entrust

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Chinese character

Explore 214 Chinese radicals and their derived characters. Sort by radical or stroke count, and view the complete list of official Hanja radicals.

Chinese characters (Hanja)

Chinese characters dictionary

客

Etymology

Usage in Korean

Words that derived from 客

Neighboring characters in the dictionary

References