Palace

"宫“本来指住人的房子，后来，黄帝住的地方才叫”宫“，比如著名的北京故宫。”故“是”过去“的意思，”故宫“的意思就是”过去的皇宫“。

 (gōng běn lái zhǐ zhù rén de fáng zi, hòu lái, huáng dì zhù de dì fāng cái jiào gōng, bǐ rú zhù míng de běi jīng gù gōng. gù shì guò qù de yì si, gù gōng de yì si jiù shi guò qù de huáng gōng.)

The character gong originally referred to a house in which ordinary people lived. Later, it was used to refer to palaces in which Chinese emperors dwelled, such as the Forbidden City in Beijing. The character gu means “past”, and gugong means “imperial palace of the past”.