Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

屋: roof, house

Also: shop, dealer, seller

JLPT N49 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met

尸 carries the meaning · 至 is drawn in

9 strokes
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

オクoku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 屋上おくじょうrooftop
  • 屋内おくないindoor
  • 屋外おくがいoutdoor

やya · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 屋敷やしきmansion
  • 屋根やねroof
  • 本屋ほんやbookstore

Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.

  • 部屋へやroom

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Lie down and cover up! This radical has two lives: it can represent the stillness of a body or the protection of a roof.”
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered

屋 gives its sound to

The family reading is アク (aku). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
屋 roof · 尸
vs室 room · 宀
屋 has 尸 where 室 has 宀.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · wū

Same form: 屋 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
屋 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
屋 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin wū most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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