橱 (chú): wardrobe, closet, cabinet

橱 (chú) is a Chinese character meaning “wardrobe.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (structural) and 厨 (structural). It ranks #2769 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 橱 a wooden 木 cabinet 厨; 厨 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. wardrobe
  2. closet
  3. cabinet

Etymology & Origin

橱

ideographicA wooden 木 cabinet 厨; 厨 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰木厨 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

Practice writing 橱 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
衣橱nounyī chúwardrobe
壁橱nounbì chúa built-in wardrobe or cupboard
橱窗nounchú chuāngdisplay window
橱柜nounchú guìcupboard
书橱nounshū chúbookcase
小型柜橱xiǎo xíng guì chúcabinet
橱子chú ziwardrobe
7
Total compounds
43
As first character
57
As last character
0
As middle character

橱 appears in 7 compound words: 43 as the first character, 57 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 橱 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

柜guì
0.620260 co-occurrences
窗chuāng
0.595478 co-occurrences
衣yī
0.492208 co-occurrences
壁bì
0.467144 co-occurrences
纱shā
0.44318 co-occurrences
砸zá
0.43320 co-occurrences
玻bō
0.40944 co-occurrences
璃lí
0.40844 co-occurrences
躲duǒ
0.37918 co-occurrences
抢qiǎng
0.37316 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

工人们正在砍伐病橱,防止虫害蔓延。

gōng rén men zhēng zài kǎn fá bìng chú , fáng zhǐ chóng hài mán yán .

Workers are cutting down diseased trees to prevent the spread of pests.

少数派Aug 2026

同理,洗碗机、蒸烤箱也尽量选全嵌款式,正面面板可以和橱柜统一定制。

tóng lǐ , xǐ wǎn jī , zhēng kǎo xiāng yě jǐn liàng xuǎn quán kǎn kuǎn shì , zhèng miàn miàn bǎn kě yǐ hé chú guì tǒng yī dìng zhì .

Similarly, when choosing a dishwasher or steam oven, opt for fully built-in models whenever possible, so that the front panel can be custom-made to match the cabinetry.

中国新闻网·生活Jul 2026

其次,光照会促进光氧化反应,应将油瓶放在橱柜等避光处,远离窗边等阳光直射的位置。

qí cì , guāng zhào huì cù jìn guāng yǎng huà fǎn yīng , yīng jiāng yóu píng fàng zài chú guì děng bì guāng chǔ , yuǎn lí chuāng biān děng yáng guāng zhí shè de wèi zhì .

Second, exposure to light can promote photooxidation, so oil bottles should be stored in a dark place, such as a cabinet, away from direct sunlight, including areas near windows.

少数派Jun 2026

最近在清理衣橱,以前的很多过于风格化的裤子都清理掉了,目前 6 条裤子满足全年穿着。

zuì jìn zài qīng lǐ yī chú , yǐ qián de hěn duō guò yú fēng gé huà de kù zǐ dōu qīng lǐ diào le , mù qián 6 tiáo kù zǐ mǎn zú quán nián chuān zhe .

I’ve been cleaning out my closet recently and got rid of a lot of my old, overly stylized pants. Now, I have just six pairs that are enough to last me all year.

SmzdmMar 2026

...衣物护理机圈粉了,LG终究还是成了我的衣橱管家~#衣物护理黑科技 #LG衣物护理机...

. . . yī wù hù lǐ jī juān fěn le , L G zhōng jiū hái shì chéng le wǒ de yī chú guǎn jiā yī wù hù lǐ hēi kē jì L G yī wù hù lǐ jī . . .

...The clothing care machine has won me over—LG has truly become my wardrobe manager~ #Cutting-EdgeClothingCare #LGClothingCareMachine...

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

...永续 DIESEL 2026秋冬的叛逆衣橱呈现派对后凌乱美学

. . . yǒng xù D I E S E L 2 0 2 6 qiū dōng de pàn nì yī chú chéng xiàn pài duì hòu líng luàn měi xué

... The perpetual DIESEL Fall/Winter 2026 rebellious wardrobe presents a post-party messy aesthetic

Tatoeba

打开左边的橱,瓶子在那儿。

Dǎkāi zuǒbian de chú, píngzi zàinar.

Open the cupboard to the left, the bottles are in there.

Tatoeba

这房间有两个衣橱。

Zhè fángjiān yǒu liǎng gè yīchú.

This room has two closets for clothing.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced chú

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 橱 (chú) mean in Chinese?
橱 (chú) primarily means "wardrobe." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2769 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 橱 have?
橱 is written with 16 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 橱?
The radical associated with 橱 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 橱?
橱 is composed of: 木 (structural), 厨 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木厨 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 橱?
Common words with 橱 include: 衣橱 (yī chú, "wardrobe"); 壁橱 (bì chú, "a built-in wardrobe or cupboard"); 橱窗 (chú chuāng, "display window"); 橱柜 (chú guì, "cupboard"); 书橱 (shū chú, "bookcase"). There are over 7 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 橱 (chú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chú: 出 (to go out), 处 (to reside), 除 (to get rid of), 初 (beginning), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 橱 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 橱 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 橱 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.