局 (jú): narrow, office, situation

局 (jú) is a Chinese character meaning “narrow.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 尺 (structural) and 口 (structural). It ranks #483 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 局 a place where measures 尺 are discussed 口. Its radical form 尸 (corpse) appears in many related characters such as 层 (céng, to pile on top of one another), 尽 (jǐn, to the greatest extent), 屋 (wū, (bound form) house).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. narrow
  2. office
  3. situation

Etymology & Origin

局

ideographicA place where measures 尺 are discussed 口

Decomposition: ⿵尺口 (layout: surround-from-top)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 局

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
局面nounjú miànaspect6
邮局nounyóu júpost office5
局限verbjú xiànvariant of 局限6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
结局nounjié júconclusion
出局verbchū jú(of a batter) to be put out (in baseball)
局长nounjú zhǎngbureau chief
警察局nounjǐng chá júpolice station
局势nounjú shìsituation
骗局nounpiàn júa swindle
当局noundāng júauthorities
移民局nounyí mín júimmigration office
安全局ān quán júsecurity bureau
分局nounfēn júbranch office
残局nouncán júendgame (in chess)
大局noundà júoverall situation
平局nounpíng júa draw (in competition)
国税局guó shuì jú(Tw) National Taxation Bureau, local branch of the Ministry of Finance 財政部|财政部
赌局dǔ júgame of chance
100
Total compounds
18
As first character
81
As last character
1
As middle character

局 appears in 100 compound words: 18 as the first character, 81 as the last, and 1 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 局 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

铸zhù
0.5046,328 co-occurrences
长cháng
0.49378,168 co-occurrences
管guǎn
0.48158,094 co-occurrences
央yāng
0.46225,644 co-occurrences
警jǐng
0.46232,048 co-occurrences
僵jiāng
0.4614,066 co-occurrences
副fù
0.45836,196 co-occurrences
势shì
0.45212,398 co-occurrences
察chá
0.43723,400 co-occurrences
当dāng
0.43233,134 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

顾全大局gùquándàjúHSK 5+

to take the interests of the whole into account; to take the situation as a whole into consideration

phrase
局促不安jú cù bù ānHSK 5+

ill at ease; uncomfortable

phrase
三振出局sānzhèn chūjúHSK 7+

to strike out; three strikes and you're out

phrase
局促一隅jú cù yī yúHSK 5+

to be cramped in a corner (idiom)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们局字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men jú zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "局."

Investing 香港Feb 2026

加拿大航空因安全局势暂停墨西哥巴亚尔塔港营运

jiā ná dà háng kōng yīn ān quán jú shì zàn tíng mò xī gē bā yà ěr tǎ gǎng yíng yùn

Air Canada suspended operations in the port of Vallarta, Mexico due to the security situation

English News - RthkFeb 2026

...住所海湖庄园警戒线男子被击毙 白宫指特勤局果断行动

. . . zhù suǒ hǎi hú zhuāng yuán jǐng jiè xiàn nán zǐ bèi jī bì bái gōng zhǐ tè qín jú guǒ duàn háng dòng

... A man was killed at the cordon of Mar-a-Lago Manor, and the White House accused the Secret Service of decisive action

StheadlineFeb 2026

伊朗局势|伊媒:一旦开战特朗普家族在中东项目将...

yī lǎng jú shì yī méi : yī dàn kāi zhàn tè lǎng pǔ jiā zú zài zhōng dōng xiàng mù jiāng . . .

Iranian Media: Once the war starts, the Trump family's project in the Middle East will...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

美关税新变局 台币走势将以盘待变

měi guān shuì xīn biàn jú tái bì zǒu shì jiāng yǐ pán dài biàn

New changes in US tariffs The trend of the Taiwan dollar will be waiting for changes

百度新闻Feb 2026

马年“识局”6 | 不想当“跛脚鸭”,特朗普能否守...

mǎ nián shí jú 6 bù xiǎng dāng 跛 jiǎo yā , tè lǎng pǔ néng fǒu shǒu . . .

Year of the Horse "Knowing the Situation" 6 | I don't want to be a "lame duck", can Trump keep it...

Tatoeba

汤姆所言不符时局。

Tāngmǔ suǒ yán bù fú shíjú.

What Tom said doesn't apply in this situation.

Tatoeba

圣诞节当天邮局休息,邮件将不予投递。

Shèngdànjié dāngtiān yóujú xiūxi, yóujiàn jiāng bù yú tóudì.

The post office is closed on Christmas day and mail will not be delivered.

Tatoeba

这里附近有没有邮政局?

Zhèlǐ fùjìn yǒuméiyǒu yóuzhèngjú?

Is there a post office around here?

Tatoeba

我们必须设法打破这个僵局。

Wǒmen bìxū shèfǎ dǎpò zhège jiāngjú.

We must try to break the deadlock.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jú

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 局 (jú) mean in Chinese?
局 (jú) primarily means "narrow." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #483 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 局 and 宽?
局 (jú) and 宽 (kuān) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 局 (narrow) vs 宽 (wide).
How many strokes does 局 have?
局 is written with 7 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 局?
The radical associated with 局 is 尸 (corpse). This radical appears in many characters related to corpse.
What are the components of 局?
局 is composed of: 尺 (structural), 口 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿵尺口 with a surround-from-top layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 局?
Common words with 局 include: 结局 (jié jú, "conclusion"); 出局 (chū jú, "(of a batter) to be put out (in baseball)"); 局长 (jú zhǎng, "bureau chief"); 警察局 (jǐng chá jú, "police station"); 局面 (jú miàn, "aspect"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 局 (jú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jú: 据 (according to), 具 (tool), 举 (to lift), 居 (to reside), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 局 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 局 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 局 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.