桌

zhuō
noun #3,450

Measure Word

一张桌子 zhāng

Meanings

  1. 1 table; desk
  2. 2 measure word for tables of guests or dishes

Examples

HSK 1
Māma zuò le yì zhuō hǎo cài.
Mom cooked a whole table of delicious food.
HSK 3
Wǒmen zuò zhè zhāng zhuōzi ba.
Let's sit at this table.

Tips

usage
桌 almost always appears as 桌子 (zhuōzi, table/desk). The measure word is 张 (zhāng). Related: 书桌 (shūzhuō, writing desk), 餐桌 (cānzhuō, dining table).

Components

radical
木 mù
tree; wood
Bottom indexing wood radical - marks the table's material as wooden furniture. Added later to disambiguate the original 卓 (tall, standing) into the specific 'tall wooden object you sit at'. Same radical anchors the household-furniture family: 椅 (chair), 床 (bed), 柜 (cabinet), 板 (board).
phonetic
卓 zhuō
tall; outstanding
Top component supplies the sound (exact match: zhuō) and a strong semantic echo. 卓 means 'tall, upright, standing out' - a fitting picture of a table standing on its legs. Note the slight contraction: standalone 卓 has 8 strokes, here compressed to 6 in the top position. 桌 was originally written as just 卓; the wood radical was added later to specify the material. Same phonetic in 倬 (zhuō, conspicuous).

Stroke Order

桌 zhuō