住 (zhù): to live, to stay
住 (zhù) is a Chinese character meaning “to live, to stay.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亻 (structural) and 主 (structural). It ranks #309 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 住 a person 亻 who hosts 主; 主 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 亻 (person) appears in many related characters such as 人 (rén, person), 什 (shén, what), 今 (jīn, now).
Definitions
- to live, to stay
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA person 亻 who hosts 主; 主 also provides the pronunciation
Decomposition: ⿰亻主 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 住 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 住
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 住院verb | zhù yuàn | to stay in hospital | 3 |
| 居住verb | jū zhù | to reside | 5 |
| 住址noun | zhù zhǐ | address | 5 |
| 住宅noun | zhù zhái | residence | 6 |
| 住宿verb | zhù sù | to stay at | 5 |
| 住房noun | zhù fáng | housing | 5 |
| 入住verb | rù zhù | to check in (at a hotel etc) | 4 |
| 衣食住行 | yī shí zhù xíng | lit. clothing, food, housing and transportation (idiom) | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 抓住 | zhuā zhù | to grab hold of |
| 记住 | jì zhu | to remember |
| 住手 | zhù shǒu | to desist |
| 站住 | zhàn zhù | to stand |
| 保住 | bǎo zhù | to preserve |
| 住处 | zhù chù | residence |
| 住嘴 | zhù zuǐ | to hold one's tongue |
| 挡住 | dǎng zhù | to obstruct |
| 卡住 | kǎ zhù | to jam |
| 拦住 | lán zhù | to stop |
| 打住 | dǎ zhù | to stop |
| 住所 | zhù suǒ | habitation |
| 住口 | zhù kǒu | shut up |
| 堵住 | dǔ zhù | to block up |
| 留住 | liú zhù | to ask sb to stay |
住 appears in 100 compound words: 23 as the first character, 73 as the last, and 4 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 住 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (4)
lit. clothing, food, housing and transportation (idiom); fig. people's basic needs
Example Sentences
我住在公司附近，走路十分钟就能到办公室。
Wǒ zhù zài gōngsī fùjìn, zǒulù shí fēnzhōng jiù néng dào bàngōngshì.
I live near the company; it's a ten-minute walk to the office.
擅闯特朗普住所海湖庄园警戒线男子被击毙 白宫指特勤局...
shàn chuǎng tè lǎng pǔ zhù suǒ hǎi hú zhuāng yuán jǐng jiè xiàn nán zǐ bèi jī bì bái gōng zhǐ tè qín jú . . .
A man who trespassed on the cordon of Trump's residence, Mar-a-Lago Manor, was killed, and the White House pointed out that the Secret Service...
挺不住了?印度急切“从中国进口”
tǐng bù zhù le ? yìn dù jí qiē cóng zhōng guó jìn kǒu
Can't hold on? India is eager to "import from China"
女演员表演突发意外,绳子卡住致其无法按计划动作,坚..
nǚ yǎn yuán biǎo yǎn tū fā yì wài , shéng zǐ kǎ zhù zhì qí mó fǎ àn jì huá dòng zuò , jiān . .
The actress had an accident during her performance, and the rope got stuck, preventing her from performing as planned...
新春走基层丨送给妈妈的一只手镯,圈住长沙南站驶出的..
xīn chūn zǒu jī céng 丨 sòng gěi mā mā de yī zhī shǒu 镯 , juān zhù cháng shā nán zhàn shǐ chū de . .
The new year walk grass-roots level 丨 a bracelet for mom, circling the Changsha South Station out of the ...
我能问一下您的姓名和住址吗？
Wǒ néng wèn yīxià nín de xìngmíng hé zhùzhǐ ma?
Might I ask your name and address?
他在这里已经住了两年了吗？
Tā zài zhèlǐ yǐjīng zhù le liǎng nián le ma?
Has he lived here for two years?
你回家乡去住多少天？
Nǐ huíjiā xiāng qù zhù duōshao tiān?
How many days are you going to be visiting your hometown?
行。你住在什么地方？
Xíng. Nǐ zhù zài shénme dìfang?
Ok. Where do you live?
你在上海要住多少时间？
Nǐ zài Shànghǎi yào zhù duōshao shíjiān?
How long are you going to stay in Shanghai?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 住 (zhù) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 住 have?
What is the radical of 住?
What are the components of 住?
What are common words containing 住?
What characters sound the same as 住 (zhù)?
Is 住 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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