库 (kù): warehouse; storehouse

Meanings

1 warehouse; storehouse
2 repository; library (in computing)

Characters

库

kù

warehouse; storehouse; treasury

Examples

货物都存放在仓库里。

Huòwù dōu cúnfàng zài cāngkù lǐ.

The goods are all stored in the warehouse.

水库的水位很高。

Shuǐkù de shuǐwèi hěn gāo.

The reservoir's water level is very high.

我们需要更新数据库。

Wǒmen xūyào gēngxīn shùjùkù.

We need to update the database.

Tips

usage

Common compounds: 仓库 (warehouse), 水库 (reservoir), 车库 (garage), 数据库 (database), 题库 (question bank).

Components

radical

广 yǎn

shelter; lean-to roof

Outer shelter radical, picturing a sloping roof leaning against a wall — a covered lean-to or shed. It supplies the meaning: a building used for storage. The radical anchors a whole architecture-and-shelter family: 店 (shop), 床 (bed/frame), 庙 (temple), 庭 (courtyard), 庞 (huge structure), 库.

semantic

车 chē

cart; chariot

Inner 车 is the cart radical — originally a chariot viewed from above, simplified from 車. Together with the shelter outside it forms a vivid ideographic compound: a shed for parking carts, a chariot-house, hence the modern senses 'warehouse, storehouse, depot' (车库 garage, 国库 treasury, 仓库 warehouse).