础 (chǔ): foundation; base

Meanings

1 foundation; base

Characters

础

chǔ

foundation; base

Examples

HSK 2

学好基础很重要。

Xué hǎo jīchǔ hěn zhòngyào.

Learning the basics well is very important.

HSK 2

这是基础课。

Zhè shì jīchǔ kè.

This is a foundational course.

Tips

usage

础 is almost exclusively used in 基础 (jīchǔ, foundation/basis/basic). You'll rarely see it alone or in other compounds. The 石 radical reflects the original meaning of a foundation stone.

Components

radical

石 shí

stone

Stone radical on the left marks 础 as a stone foundation - a 柱础 is the carved stone block on which a wooden pillar rests. Same radical drives 砖 (brick), 砌 (lay stones), 碑 (stele), 矿 (ore). All structural and mineral chars sit under this radical.

phonetic

出 chū

exit; emerge

出 supplies the sound - chū to chǔ - through a tone shift in this phonetic series. The simplified 础 replaces the traditional 礎 (which used 楚 as phonetic) with the simpler 出, keeping the same chǔ reading. Faint semantic hint: foundation stones emerge 出 from the ground to support pillars above.