住 — how to write the kanji for “dwell”
住 means “dwell”, “reside” and “live”; it is a JLPT N4 kanji, taught in third grade in Japan. In newspapers it is the 270th most used kanji. Its Japanese stroke 5, a vertical, is the 6th stroke in the Chinese order. KANJIDIC2 files it under the radical 人 (“person”). On its own it is the word juu, “dwelling; living”. Read juu, it forms 住宅 (“residence”), 住民 (“inhabitant”) and 住所 (“address”); the native reading su-mu gives 住み心地 (“(level of) comfort”). Chinese reads it zhù, “to live”, at HSK 1.
- Strokes
- 7
- JLPT
- N4
- Radical
- 人 (“person”)
- On
- ジュウ, ヂュウ, チュウ
- Kun
- す·まう, す·む, -ず·まい
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
Its parts sit side by side: 亻 (“person”), strokes 1–2; 主 (“lord”), strokes 3–7, each finished before the next.
- Left-falling stroke ㇒top leftdown and left
- Vertical ㇑leftdownwards
- Dot ㇔topdown and right
- Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
- Vertical ㇑centerdownwards
- Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
- Horizontal ㇐bottom leftrightwards
Two stroke orders
Japan and China order its strokes differently: 2 strokes sit in another place. Japanese 5 = Chinese 6; Japanese 6 = Chinese 5.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Readings
- On (Chinese-derived)
- ジュウ juu, ヂュウ juu (rare), チュウ chuu (rare)
- Kun (native)
- す·まう su-mau, す·む su-mu (rare), -ず·まい -zu-mai (rare)
- Meanings
- dwell; reside; live; inhabit
- Read juu
- 住宅 住民 住所 在住 先住 居住
- Read su-mu
- 住み心地
- School year
- third grade
- Newspaper rank
- 270th of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
- Korean hanja
- 주 ju
- Common words
- 27 in JMdict
Words with 住
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 住宅 | じゅうたく juutaku | residence; housing |
| 住民 | じゅうみん juumin | inhabitant; resident |
| 住所 | じゅうしょ juusho | address; residence |
| 在住 | ざいじゅう zaijuu | residing; living |
| 先住 | せんじゅう senjuu | original inhabitant; aboriginal |
| 居住 | きょじゅう kyojuu | residence; living (at, in) |
| 住み心地 | すみごこち sumigokochi | (level of) comfort |
| 住居 | じゅうきょ juukyo | dwelling; house |
| 住宅地 | じゅうたくち juutakuchi | housing district; residential district |
| 永住 | えいじゅう eijuu | permanent residence |
Most common first (JMdict).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.
Keep going
Same parts:
JLPT N4, in list order: