畜 (xù) · to raise (animals), to keep (livestock)

Meanings

1 to raise (animals)
2 to keep (livestock)

Characters

畜

xù

to raise (animals)

Examples

HSK 7-9

畜牧业是这个地区的主要产业。

Xùmùyè shì zhège dìqū de zhǔyào chǎnyè.

Animal husbandry is the region's main industry.

HSK 7-9

他家世代畜养牛羊。

Tā jiā shìdài xùyǎng niúyáng.

His family has raised cattle and sheep for generations.

Tips

usage

The xù reading is the verb 'to raise or keep animals': 畜牧 (animal husbandry), 畜养 (to raise livestock), 畜产品 (animal products). When the character names the animals themselves it switches to the noun reading chù.

Components

radical

田 tián

field; farmland

Field radical on the bottom, the indexing semantic. The cross-and-square depicts a paddy divided by raised paths. Putting tethered animals 玄 above farmland 田 gives the original scene: animals kept on the farm. Modern readings split into chù 'livestock' (noun) and xù 'to raise' (verb).

semantic

玄 xuán

dark; mysterious; tied silk

Top component, originally a small bundle of twisted silk thread, here representing tethered animals tied up at the farm. The rope-and-tether image sits naturally over 田, picturing livestock kept on cultivated land. The same 玄 shows up in 弦 (bowstring) and 蓄 (store up), which carries the same domesticate-and-keep idea.