隔壁
gébì · HSK 5
next door
🚪 隔 = separate + 壁 = wall; the wall that separates us = next door
隔 means to separate or partition, and 壁 means wall. Together they name the wall that divides two homes — hence the neighbor on the other side. 隔壁 literally points to whoever lives past that shared wall.
隔 — 阜 (mound 阝) + 鬲 (cauldron, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The left element 阝 (mound/hill) suggests a barrier or separation, while 鬲 (an ancient three-legged cauldron) supplies the sound. The original sense of being blocked off by terrain extended to today's meanings of 'separate,' 'partition,' or 'at an interval.'