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宿

xiù / sù / xiǔ
noun #4,852

Meanings

  1. 1 (classical astronomy) constellation; lunar mansion
  2. 2 one of the 28 stations the moon passes through in traditional Chinese astronomy

Examples

古代中国天文学家把天空分成二十八宿。
Gǔdài Zhōngguó tiānwénxuéjiā bǎ tiānkōng fēnchéng èrshíbāxiù.
Ancient Chinese astronomers divided the sky into 28 lunar mansions.
心宿二在西方叫Antares。
Xīnxiùèr zài Xīfāng jiào Antares。
Antares is called "the second star of Xin mansion" in Chinese astronomy.
古小说里很多星宿的名字听起来很厉害，其实就是一组固定的星。
Gǔ xiǎoshuō lǐ hěnduō xīngxiù de míngzi tīngqǐlái hěn lìhai, qíshí jiùshì yīzǔ gùdìng de xīng.
Many constellation names in old novels look impressive but really just mean a fixed group of stars.

Tips

culture
The xiù reading is the technical term for the 28 "lunar mansions" of traditional Chinese astronomy — divisions of the sky that mark where the moon sits on each of its 28 days. Each mansion has a name and a constellation, and they group into four cardinal Symbols: 青龙 (East/Azure Dragon), 白虎 (West/White Tiger), 朱雀 (South/Vermilion Bird), 玄武 (North/Black Tortoise). You'll meet xiù in fantasy novels, wuxia, and any text discussing classical astronomy.

Components

radical
宀 mián
roof (radical)
Top radical 宀 — a peaked roof with two short walls, indexing radical for 宿. Establishes 'inside a building' — and since 宿 is about lodging and overnighting, the roof carries the core meaning. Same radical anchors the home-family 家 (home), 室 (room), 安 (peace), 客 (guest), 寄 (board with).
semantic
亻 rén
person (semantic)
Inner-left 亻 — the side-form of 人 (person), tucked under the roof. Pictures the lodger or overnight guest taking shelter for the night. The combination 'person under roof' makes 宿 transparent as 'to stay, to lodge'.
semantic
百 bǎi
hundred; (here) mat
Right of the 亻, the 百 shape. In oracle-bone graphs this element was a woven mat that the figure rested on for the night, only later conflated with the modern 'hundred' character. So the full picture is roof + person + mat = lodging. Modern 百 retains only its surface meaning 'hundred'; here it functions as a semantic remnant of the original sleeping mat.

Stroke Order

宿 xiù