宅 (zhái): residence, (coll.) to stay in at home, to hang around at home
宅 (zhái) is a Chinese character meaning “residence.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 宀 (semantic) and 乇 (phonetic). It ranks #1839 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 宅 roof. Its radical form 宀 (roof) appears in many related characters such as 客 (kè, guest, customer), 家 (jiā, home, family), 它 (tā, it).
Definitions
- residence
- (coll.) to stay in at home
- to hang around at home
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 宅 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 宅
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 住宅区noun | zhù zhái qū | residential area |
| 民宅noun | mín zhái | private residence |
| 宅邸noun | zhái dǐ | residence of a high-ranking official |
| 宅子noun | zhái zi | house |
| 私宅noun | sī zhái | private residence |
| 凶宅noun | xiōng zhái | inauspicious abode |
| 住宅楼 | zhù zhái lóu | residential building |
| 宅院noun | zhái yuàn | house |
| 家宅 | jiā zhái | home |
| 宅第noun | zhái dì | residence |
| 故宅 | gù zhái | former home |
| 旧宅noun | jiù zhái | former residence |
| 宅度假 | zhái dù jià | staycation |
| 宅经 | zhái jīng | The Yellow Emperor's Classic on the Feng Shui of Dwellings |
| 宅女noun | zhái nǚ | female geek |
宅 appears in 30 compound words: 33 as the first character, 53 as the last, and 13 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 宅 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
宅字在日常生活中使用频率较低。
zhái zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ jiào dī .
The character "宅" is not frequently used in everyday life.
据报东亚10亿元洽售歌赋山道15号豪宅
jù bào dōng yà 1 0 yì yuán qià shòu gē fù shān dào 1 5 hào háo zhái
It is reported that East Asia negotiated the sale of a mansion at No. 15 Gofushan Road for 1 billion yuan
以为黄金!贼闯宅偷宝盒 他:是我肾结石
yǐ wéi huáng jīn ! zéi chuǎng zhái tōu bǎo hé tā : shì wǒ shèn jié shí
Think it's gold! Thieves break into the house and steal treasure boxes He: It's my kidney stones
韩马利中山大宅跟北方煮锅贴过年 圈中老公杜燕歌系清朝皇...
hán mǎ lì zhōng shān dà zhái gēn běi fāng zhǔ guō tiē guò nián juān zhōng lǎo gōng dù yān gē xì qīng cháo huáng . . .
Han Mali's Zhongshan mansion cooks potstickers in the north for the New Year, and her husband Du Yange in the circle is the emperor of the Qing Dynasty...
井田、辕田、名田宅
jǐng tián , yuán tián , míng tián zhái
Well field, yoke field, famous field house
港姐冠军黄嘉雯豪宅曝光 去年荣升马主赢254万
gǎng jiě guàn jūn huáng jiā 雯 háo zhái pù guāng qù nián róng shēng mǎ zhǔ yíng 2 5 4 wàn
Miss Hong Kong champion Huang Jiawen's mansion was exposed, and last year's champion won 2.54 million
住宅围栏应该多高？
Zhùzhái wéilán yīnggāi duō gāo?
How high should a home fence be?
汤姆的住宅有一个不错的花园。
Tāngmǔ de zhùzhái yǒu yī gè bù cuò de huāyuán.
Tom's house has a nice garden.
跟我们的房子比，你的就是个豪宅。
Gēn wǒmen de fángzi bǐ, nǐ de jiùshì gè háozhái.
Compared to our house, yours is a mansion.
在永恒的宅邸拉莱耶，长眠的克苏鲁候汝入梦。
Zài yǒnghéng de zhái dǐ lā lái yē, chángmián de Kèsūlǔ hòu rǔ rù mèng.
In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 宀 (roof) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 宅 (zhái) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 宅 and 吒?
How many strokes does 宅 have?
What is the radical of 宅?
What are the components of 宅?
What are common words containing 宅?
What characters sound the same as 宅 (zhái)?
Is 宅 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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