门当户对

mén dāng hù duì

well matched in family standing (of a couple)

Character by character

门mén
gate

当dāng
matching

户hù
door

对duì
paired

老一辈人觉得结婚要门当户对。

The older generation think a couple should be matched in family background.

Tone: neutral.

Literally the families’ gates and doors match. The popular story that 门当 and 户对 were gate ornaments showing rank is a later folk explanation.

Learn this in Lesson 28 · HSK 5–6: 房子与婚姻 (Housing and marriage)

A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. This lesson is free.