宅

zhái
noun #6,953

Meanings

  1. 1 residence; house
  2. 2 to stay home; to be a homebody

Examples

HSK 4
Tā shì gè zháinán, zhōumò cóngláibù chūmén.
He's a homebody who never goes out on weekends.
HSK 4
Zhè zuò zháizi yǒu yìbǎi duōnián de lìshǐ.
This residence has over a hundred years of history.

Tips

usage
宅男 and 宅女 are common internet slang for men/women who prefer staying home, similar to the Japanese otaku concept.

Components

radical
宀 mián
roof; house cover
Roof radical on top - the indexing semantic. 宀 pictures the eaves and ridgepole of a dwelling. 宅 is specifically a residence, a private house, so the roof radical is doing direct semantic work. Joins the architecture family: 家 (home), 室 (room), 安 (peace at home), 寒 (cold shelter), 寄 (lodge with someone).
phonetic
乇 tuō
plant stalk (here phonetic)
Bottom component supplies the sound, tuō → zhái with initial drift. 乇 itself pictured a young plant pushing up through the ground. As a phonetic it organises a small but useful family: 托 (entrust), 拓 (open up), 咤 - sharing the same simple stalk-shape but spreading across several rimes.

Stroke Order

宅 zhái