院子
yuànzi · HSK 2
courtyard
🏡 院 = courtyard + 子 (noun suffix); literally 'yard-thing'
院 on its own means courtyard or institutional grounds (hospital 医院, school 学院). Adding 子 turns it into the everyday noun for a yard or patio attached to a house.
院 — left ear 阝(阜) + complete 完
院 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left 阝 (from 阜, mound/hill) suggests walls or enclosed terrain, hinting at an enclosed space. The right 完 (wán) provides the sound and originally meant 'complete', so 院 came to mean a walled courtyard or institution like a hospital or academy.
子 — pictograph of a baby/child with arms out
子 began as a pictograph of a swaddled infant with a large head and outstretched arms, originally meaning 'baby' or 'child.' From there it broadened to 'son,' 'offspring,' and a respectful suffix for masters like 孔子 (Confucius). It also became one of the twelve earthly branches.