Meaning of 屋
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- (bound form) house
- (bound form) room
How to use 屋
屋 (wū) is a bound form, so it usually appears inside words like 屋子 (wūzi), 房屋 (fángwū) and 屋顶 (wūdǐng) rather than standing alone. Example: 屋子里很暖和。(Wūzi lǐ hěn nuǎnhuo.) It is warm in the room.
屋 is made of 尸 on top, which looks like a roof with a wall, and 至 (zhì, to arrive) underneath. Picture arriving under a roof and you have reached a house or room.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 屋 with 握 (wò, to grip), which adds the hand radical 扌 on the left and has a different tone. Also remember 屋 is first tone wū, not fourth tone wù like 物.
屋 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
屋 wū · house · 9 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 屋.
Questions about 屋
What does 屋 mean?
屋 (wū) means "(bound form) house; (bound form) room" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 屋?
屋 is made of 1 character: 屋 (9 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 屋 an HSK word?
Yes. 屋 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 屋子 and 房子?
房子 (fángzi) usually means a house or building as property. 屋子 (wūzi) often means a room, especially in northern Chinese, though it can also mean a house.
Can I say 屋 by itself in conversation?
In casual northern speech you may hear 进屋 (jìn wū, go inside) or 屋里 (wū lǐ, inside the room). In most other cases, use a full word like 屋子 or 房间 (fángjiān).