p8nda
p8nda BETA
Home Dictionary Translate Flashcards Sign in

墟

xū
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 ruins
  2. 2 wasteland
  3. 3 country fair (in southern dialects)

Examples

战争过后，城市成了一片废墟。
Zhànzhēng guòhòu, chéngshì chéng le yí piàn fèixū.
After the war the city became a heap of ruins.
村民每五天赶一次墟做买卖。
Cūnmín měi wǔ tiān gǎn yí cì xū zuò mǎimài.
Villagers go to the country fair to trade every five days.

Tips

usage
Most learners meet 墟 in 废墟 (ruins). A separate southern-dialect sense, a periodic country market, survives in place names and the verb 赶墟 (to go to the fair).

Components

radical
土 tǔ
earth; soil
The earth radical. Ruins and abandoned mounds are bare ground where buildings once stood, so the soil radical fixes the meaning of 墟.
phonetic
虚 xū
empty; void
Supplies the sound xū and, unusually, reinforces the meaning: ruins are an empty, void place. Standalone 虚 keeps the same reading.

Stroke Order

墟 xū