枢

樞
shū
noun #43,955

Meanings

  1. 1 pivot; hinge
  2. 2 central part; hub

Examples

HSK 6
Zhè zuò chéngshì shì zhòngyào de jiāotōng shūniǔ.
This city is an important transport hub.
HSK 6
Dànǎo shì shénjīng xìtǒng de zhōngshū.
The brain is the central hub of the nervous system.

Tips

usage
Originally a door pivot, now mostly figurative for a critical control point. Key compounds: 枢纽 (hub, linchpin) and 中枢 (central nervous system; nerve center of an organization).

Components

radical
木 mù
tree; wood
Left wood radical. A door pivot was a wooden post, so the radical records the original physical object. It groups 枢 with other wooden-structure characters like 柱 and 梁.
phonetic
区 qū
area; district
Right 区 supplies the sound - qū drifting to shū, a moderate shift. It contributes no meaning here and is a contracted simplified form replacing the fuller phonetic in traditional 樞.

Stroke Order

枢 shū