小屋 (xiǎo wū) — small room; small house; cabin

Definition

noun

small roomsmall housecabin

Measure word · 间

小屋，。
Shān dǐng shàng yǒu yí zuò xiǎo wū, shì kàn rì chū de hǎo dì fāng.
There is a cabin on the mountaintop, a great spot to watch the sunrise.
小屋。
Tā zū le yì jiān xiǎo wū zuò wéi gōng zuò shì.
He rented a small house as a studio.
小屋，。
Zhè jiān xiǎo wū suī rán bú dà, dàn bù zhì dé hěn wēn xīn.
Although this small room is not large, it is decorated very warmly.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

屋wūroom/house

“小” gives small, “屋” gives room or house; together it names a small room or cabin.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape of 小 comes from three small dots, later elongated into its strokes; the apparent parts 八 and 丨 are a later way of seeing it.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

𡉉

𡉉𡉉屋wū

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

屋 comes from 室, meaning room, with 𡉉 for sound; its upper part later changed into an unrelated shape.

Appears in