乡亲
xiāng qīn · HSK 7
countryman
🏘️ 乡 village + 亲 kin = your village-kin, the folks back home
乡 means home village or countryside; 亲 means relative or kin. Put them together and you get the kinfolk of your village — fellow villagers, local people, the folks from where you grew up.
乡 — simplified form of 鄉; right side 阝(city/region)
Originally depicted two people facing each other across food vessels, showing a communal feast in a village. The meaning shifted from 'shared meal' to 'home village' and 'countryside.' The simplified form 乡 keeps a stylized trace of this scene.
亲 — 立 (stand) + 木 (tree); simplified from 親
The traditional form 親 combined 亲 (phonetic, depicting a hazelnut tree) with 見 (see), suggesting closeness through frequent seeing of family. In simplified Chinese, 見 was dropped, leaving 亲. It now means 'parent,' 'intimate,' or 'in person,' and as qìng denotes in-laws.