挨家挨户
āi jiā āi hù · HSK 7
to go from house to house
🏘️🚪 āi-āi = squeeze past each one; jiā + hù = family + household
挨 means to be next to or push through one by one. Paired with 家 (family) and 户 (household), it gives: squeezing past every single door — going house to house without skipping any.
挨 — hand radical 扌 + 矣 (phonetic)
挨 is a phonetic-semantic compound: the hand radical 扌 signals a meaning related to physical contact, while 矣 supplies the sound. It originally meant to push or strike with the hand, then broadened to 'lean against' and 'be next to' (āi), and later extended to 'suffer' or 'endure' a blow (ái).
家 — roof 宀 + pig 豕
Originally a pictograph of a pig under a roof, since domesticated pigs were kept in or under the home in ancient China. Over time the meaning broadened from 'household' to 'family,' and by extension 'home' or a specialist (as in 专家, 'expert').
挨 — hand radical 扌 + 矣 (phonetic)
挨 is a phonetic-semantic compound: the hand radical 扌 signals a meaning related to physical contact, while 矣 supplies the sound. It originally meant to push or strike with the hand, then broadened to 'lean against' and 'be next to' (āi), and later extended to 'suffer' or 'endure' a blow (ái).
户 — single-leaf door (half of 門)
户 is a pictograph showing a single-leaf door, originally drawn as half of 門 (a double door). It came to mean 'door,' then by extension 'household' or 'family,' since a door marks one dwelling. Today it commonly means 'household' or 'account.'