独家
dú jiā · HSK 7
exclusive
🔒 dú (alone) + jiā (family/house) = one house alone has it — exclusive
Only one household holds the secret. Dú means solitary or single, jiā means family or home. Together they convey something belonging to one source alone — an exclusive scoop or right.
独 — dog radical 犭 + 蜀 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 犭 (dog) gives the meaning, since dogs were thought to fight when kept together and so were often kept singly, while 蜀 supplies the sound. The original sense was 'solitary dog,' which broadened to 'alone, single, only.'
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').