Gold（金）

The original seal form of this character showed the presence of four gold nuggets hidden in the earth. The regular form reveals only two nuggets:金.In the simplified radical form,even these two remaining nuggets are missing:钅.However,the proverb reassures us: “True gold fears no fire.”

象形字的“金”，表现的是隐藏在土里的四块金块。这个字形表明，造“金”字的时代，古人已经开始了在河床上淘金。现在常规的“金”字只在“金”的下部用两个点表现两块金块。在作为偏旁部首的金字旁（钅）里，这两块金块也被省略了。然而，谚语告诉我们：“真金不怕火炼。”

Keeping a Beauty in a Golden House

This anecdote is taken from Stories of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty,by Ban Gu(班固).

When Liu Che(刘彻)(156-87B.C.),who later became Emperor Wu,was four years old,the seniorprincess sat him on her knee and asked him if he wanted a wife.He answered yes.Then the princesspointed to her daughter Ajiao,and asked, “How about Ajiao?” Liu Che chuckled,and said, “She is lovely! if I can have Ajiao for my wife,I shall ensconce her in a golden house.” When Liu Che succeeded to the throne,he really made Ajiao his empress.

Later,this expression came to be used to refer to taking a concubine or keeping a mistress.

[本段英文翻译：何泽人]

金屋藏娇

金屋藏娇这个典故，出自魏晋志怪小说《汉武故事》，作者是汉代史学家班固。

汉武帝刘彻（公元前156-前87）四岁时，被景帝立为胶东王。长公主把他抱在膝上问：“孩子，你想娶媳妇吗？”长公主指着位列左右的百名宫女，当时还是胶东王的汉武帝都说不好。长公主指着自己的女儿问：“阿娇好吗？”胶东王笑着说：“好啊，如果能得阿娇做妻子，我就造一个金屋子给她住。”长公主大为高兴。两个孩子长大一些后，长公主苦求景帝，刘彻真的娶了阿娇做妻子。后来刘彻做了皇帝，又立阿娇为皇后。

后世用“金屋藏娇”来说以华丽的房屋让喜爱的妻妾居住。

“Analysis of Chinese Characters by bilingual”，is opened for the convenience of Chinese and foreign friends who are interested in Chinese characters. We’ll push a Chinese character every Monday，analyze its originand related culture. If there is any impropriety，welcome to correct us.

为方便对汉字感兴趣的中国朋友和外国朋友，我们新开设了《双语解字》栏目。每周一推送一个汉字的来历和相关文化，如果其中有不恰当的地方，欢迎中外朋友指正。

如果汉字，用心做的原创内容，通过一个字，学会一片字！帮助孩子抓住汉字规律，理解汉字文化，掌握思维方法，举一反三。