Chinese word

隔壁

Pronunciation

Pinyingé bì

Meaning

  • nounnext door

Example

我家的隔壁很吵。wǒ jiā de gé bì hěn chǎo

The house next door to mine is very noisy.

Illustration for 隔壁 (next door)

More examples

我们听到隔壁的声音，是电视声。wǒ men tīng dào gé bì de shēng yīn shì diàn shì shēng

We hear the sound from next door; it is the sound of a TV.

Core concept

The immediate space or household on the other side of a shared wall, within easy reach but not part of one's own home.

Common phrases

  • 隔壁住户gé bì zhù hù

    next-door resident

  • 隔壁的声音gé bì de shēng yīn

    sound from next door

Similar words

邻居lín jū: A person who lives in the same building or nearby.
对面duì miàn: The home or building directly across from a place.
旁边páng biān: The position immediately beside an object or place.
附近fù jìn: The nearby area around a particular place.

Definition in Chinese

指与自己住所相邻、被墙或隔断分隔的另一户人家或相邻房间，常用于指代邻居或邻房。zhǐ yǔ zì jǐ zhù suǒ xiāng lín bèi qiáng huò gé duàn fēn gé de lìng yí hù rén jiā huò xiāng lín fáng jiān cháng yòng yú zhǐ dài lín jū huò lín fáng

Word origin

隔 (gé, "separate") + 壁 (bì, "wall") literally presents what lies beyond a separating wall, which gives the compound its everyday sense of the place or household beside one's own.

Usage tips

  • In everyday Chinese, the word can shift from the nearby place to the people who live there, so context decides whether the reference is a room, a home, or its occupants.

Other meanings

  • next roomnoun
  • neighbornoun

Opposites

Word lists with this word