屋宇
wū​yǔ

house

屋 wū house, room

Depicts a yurt (𡉉) over a room (室).

Components

𡉉
𡉉 SoundIconic component
què yurt

Depicts a yurt. 𡉉 also represents the sound. Modern form looks like 尸.

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𡉉 than it was in ancient scripts.
室
室 MeaningRemnant component
shì room

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 6 verified)

握喔渥龌幄齷

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

幄

Iconic (1)

屚

Remnant (1)

屚

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'uwkqˤok (or *ʔˤok ?)house; roof

說文解字

《說文》：“屋，居也。从尸，尸，所主也。一曰尸象屋形；从至，至，所至止。室、屋皆从至。，籀文屋，从厂。，古文屋。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.677-678zi.tools
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

宇 yǔ house

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 于 represents the sound.

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
于
于 Sound component
yú at

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthjuX[ɢ]ʷ(r)aʔ eaves

說文解字

《說文》：“宇，屋邊也。从宀，于聲。《易》曰：‘上棟下宇’。，籀文宇从禹。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)