层 (céng): layer

Meanings

1 layer
2 floor
3 story (of a building)

Characters

层

céng

layer; floor; level

Corpse/shelter radical 尸 + 云 (cloud) — layers of clouds under a roof.

Examples

我住在三层。

Wǒ zhù zài sān céng.

I live on the third floor.

这个蛋糕有三层。

Zhège dàngāo yǒu sān céng.

This cake has three layers.

这栋楼有二十层。

Zhè dòng lóu yǒu èrshí céng.

This building has twenty floors.

Tips

grammar

层 is used for floors of buildings, layers of cake, coats of paint, etc. 几层? means 'Which floor?'

mistakes

In China, 一层 is the ground floor (like British English). There's no 'floor 0.'

Components

radical

尸 shī

body; reclining figure (radical)

Outer radical 尸 — a leaning body shape, here used in its derived sense of 'overhanging eaves' or 'shed roof'. Indexing radical for 层. The traditional form 層 had 曾 underneath; the simplified 层 swaps that for 云 to cut strokes. 尸 anchors 层 in the building-shape family alongside 居 (reside) and 屋 (house).

phonetic

云 yún

cloud (phonetic)

Inner 云 — a cloud, the modern simplified shape replacing the traditional 曾 phonetic. Supplies a loose sound match (yún → céng, drift through nasal endings) and a faint visual flavour: clouds stack in layers across the sky. The 1956 reform chose 云 here for its low stroke count rather than precise phonetic fidelity.