库 (kù): warehouse

库 (kù) is a Chinese character meaning “warehouse.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 广 (structural) and 车 (structural). It ranks #1096 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 库 a stable 广 where carriages 车 are parked. Its radical form 广 (shelter) appears in many related characters such as 床 (chuáng, bed), 店 (diàn, shop), 广 (guǎng, wide, broad).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. warehouse

Etymology & Origin

库

ideographicA stable 广 where carriages 车 are parked

Decomposition: ⿸广车 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 库

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
仓库nouncāng kùdepot6
车库nounchē kùgarage5
水库nounshuǐ kùreservoir6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
数据库nounshù jù kù(computing) database
巴库proper-nounbā kùBaku, capital of Azerbaijan
金库nounjīn kùtreasury
资料库nounzī liào kù(Tw) (computing) database
库克proper-nounkù kèCook (name)
库存nounkù cúnproperty or cash held in reserve
库房nounkù fángstoreroom
宝库nounbǎo kùtreasure-house
国库nounguó kùnational treasury
机库nounjī kù(aircraft) hangar
军火库jūn huǒ kùarsenal
库伦nounkù lúnenclosed pasture (Mongolian loanword)
血库nounxuè kùblood bank
书库nounshū kùa store room for books
库尔德proper-nounkù ěr déKurd
100
Total compounds
31
As first character
53
As last character
16
As middle character

库 appears in 100 compound words: 31 as the first character, 53 as the last, and 16 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 库 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

仓cāng
0.5508,638 co-occurrences
尔ěr
0.52432,084 co-occurrences
据jù
0.50413,786 co-occurrences
水shuǐ
0.47321,300 co-occurrences
数shǔ
0.45714,172 co-occurrences
坝bà
0.4211,090 co-occurrences
缴jiǎo
0.413560 co-occurrences
兹zī
0.4081,724 co-occurrences
斯sī
0.40619,262 co-occurrences
勒lè
0.4044,992 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

库尔斯克Kù'ěrsīkèHSK 7+

Kursk (a city in Kursk Oblast, Russia); Kursk (an oblast of Russia)

库克群岛Kùkè QúndǎoHSK 6+

Cook Islands (an archipelago and self-governing country in Oceania, in free association with New Zealand)

四库全书Sìkù QuánshūHSK 5+

Siku Quanshu (the largest collection of books in Chinese history)

兴都库什XīngdūkùshíHSK 5+

Hindu Kush (a mountain range in Afghanistan and Pakistan)

Showing 4 of 5 idioms containing 库.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

仓库里堆满了货物,需要尽快清理出货。

Cāngkù lǐ duīmǎn le huòwù, xūyào jǐnkuài qīnglǐ chū huò.

The warehouse is piled high with goods; they need to be shipped out as soon as possible.

NewsFeb 2026

有手机未求救 餐厅女员工陈尸冰库

yǒu shǒu jī wèi qiú jiù cān tīng nǚ yuán gōng chén shī bīng kù

There is a mobile phone that does not call for help, and the female employee of the restaurant is in the ice storage

NewsFeb 2026

嘉南冬季雨少 水库水位续下探

jiā nán dōng jì yǔ shǎo shuǐ kù shuǐ wèi xù xià tàn

There is little rain in Jianan in winter, and the water level of the reservoir continues to fall

NewsFeb 2026

...军最高将领泼冷水:“报告总统,我们的弹药库快空了”

. . . jūn zuì gāo jiāng lǐng pō lěng shuǐ bào gào zǒng tǒng , wǒ men de dàn yào kù kuài kōng le

... The top general of the army poured cold water: "Report to the president, our ammunition depot is almost empty"

NewsFeb 2026

DA Davidson因壁板去库存下调Louisiana-Pacific...

yīn bì bǎn qù kù cún xià diào . . .

DA Davidson downgraded Louisiana-Pacific due to siding destocking...

NewsFeb 2026

开工首日开金库 草屯农会发送2088瓶发财水

kāi gōng shǒu rì kāi jīn kù cǎo tún nóng huì fā sòng píng fā cái shuǐ

On the first day of construction, the treasury was opened and the Caotun Farmers Association sent 2,088 bottles of fortune water

Tatoeba

暂时藏在仓库里好了。

Zànshí cáng zài cāngkù lǐ hǎo le.

Hide it inside the warehouse for now.

Tatoeba

汤姆在仓库前等玛丽。

Tāngmǔ zài cāngkù qián děng Mǎlì.

Tom waited for Mary in front of the warehouse.

Tatoeba

他禁止斯库拉再与易迪尔见面。

Tā jìnzhǐ Sīkùlā zài yǔ Yìdí'ěr jiànmiàn.

He forbade Skura from ever seeing Yidir.

Tatoeba

亚尼跟斯库拉没空。

Yà ní gēn sī kù lā méi kōng.

Yanni and Skura are not available.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced kù

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 库 (kù) mean in Chinese?
库 (kù) primarily means "warehouse." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1096 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 库 have?
库 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 库?
The radical associated with 库 is 广 (shelter). This radical appears in many characters related to shelter.
What are the components of 库?
库 is composed of: 广 (structural), 车 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸广车 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 库?
Common words with 库 include: 仓库 (cāng kù, "depot"); 车库 (chē kù, "garage"); 数据库 (shù jù kù, "(computing) database"); 巴库 (bā kù, "Baku, capital of Azerbaijan"); 金库 (jīn kù, "treasury"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 库 (kù)?
Several characters share the pronunciation kù: 苦 (bitter, suffer), 哭 (to cry), 酷 (ruthless), 裤 (pants), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 库 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 库 and the traditional form is 庫.

Practice writing 库 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.