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宿

xiù / sù / xiǔ
noun #4,852

Meanings

  1. 1 constellation; lunar mansion
  2. 2 one of the 28 stations the moon passes through in traditional Chinese astronomy

Examples

HSK 3
心宿二在西方叫Antares。
Xīnxiùèr zài xīfāng jiào Antares.
Antares is called "the second star of Xin mansion" in Chinese astronomy.
HSK 5
古代中国天文学家把天空分成二十八宿。
Gǔdài Zhōngguó tiānwénxuéjiā bǎ tiānkōng fēnchéng èrshíbāxiù.
Ancient Chinese astronomers divided the sky into 28 lunar mansions.
HSK 5
古小说里很多星宿的名字听起来很厉害，其实就是一组固定的星。
Gǔ xiǎoshuō lǐ hěnduō xīngxiù de míngzi tīngqǐlái hěn lìhai, qíshí jiùshì yī zǔ gùdìng de xīng.
Many constellation names in old novels look impressive but really just mean a fixed group of stars.

Tips

culture
The xiù reading is the technical term for the 28 "lunar mansions" of traditional Chinese astronomy - divisions of the sky that mark where the moon sits on each of its 28 days. Each mansion has a name and a constellation, and they group into four cardinal Symbols: 青龙 (East/Azure Dragon), 白虎 (West/White Tiger), 朱雀 (South/Vermilion Bird), 玄武 (North/Black Tortoise). You'll meet xiù in fantasy novels, wuxia, and any text discussing classical astronomy.

Components

radical
宀 mián
roof (radical)
Top radical 宀 - a peaked roof with two short walls, indexing radical for 宿. Establishes 'inside a building' - and since 宿 is about lodging and overnighting, the roof carries the core meaning. Same radical anchors the home-family 家 (home), 室 (room), 安 (peace), 客 (guest), 寄 (board with).
semantic
亻 rén
person (semantic)
Inner-left 亻 - the side-form of 人 (person), tucked under the roof. Pictures the lodger or overnight guest taking shelter for the night. The combination 'person under roof' makes 宿 transparent as 'to stay, to lodge'.
semantic
百 bǎi
hundred; (here) mat
Right of the 亻, the 百 shape. In oracle-bone graphs this element was a woven mat that the figure rested on for the night, only later conflated with the modern 'hundred' character. So the full picture is roof + person + mat = lodging. Modern 百 retains only its surface meaning 'hundred'; here it functions as a semantic remnant of the original sleeping mat.

Stroke Order

宿 xiù