库 (kù): warehouse; storehouse

Meanings

1 warehouse; storehouse
2 repository; library (in computing)

Characters

库

kù

warehouse; storehouse; treasury

Examples

HSK 2

水库的水位很高。

Shuǐkù de shuǐwèi hěn gāo.

The reservoir's water level is very high.

HSK 5

我们需要更新数据库。

Wǒmen xūyào gēngxīn shùjùkù.

We need to update the database.

HSK 7-9

货物都存放在仓库里。

Huòwù dōu cúnfàng zài cāngkù lǐ.

The goods are all stored in the warehouse.

Tips

usage

Common compounds: 仓库 (warehouse), 水库 (reservoir), 车库 (garage), 数据库 (database), 题库 (question bank).

Components

radical

广 yǎn

shelter; lean-to roof

Outer shelter radical, picturing a sloping roof leaning against a wall - a covered lean-to or shed. It supplies the meaning: a building used for storage. The radical anchors a whole architecture-and-shelter family: 店 (shop), 床 (bed/frame), 庙 (temple), 庭 (courtyard), 庞 (huge structure), 库.

semantic

车 chē

cart; chariot

Inner 车 is the cart radical - originally a chariot viewed from above, simplified from 車. Together with the shelter outside it forms a vivid ideographic compound: a shed for parking carts, a chariot-house, hence the modern senses 'warehouse, storehouse, depot' (车库 garage, 国库 treasury, 仓库 warehouse).