屋

Broadly means “a house, a dwelling, or any roofed structure.” It refers both to a physical shelter and, by extension, a family household or dwelling place.

In extended senses, 屋 also denotes rooms or buildings as part of larger compounds — e.g., 倉屋 (창고) “storehouse,” 屋宇 “house and roof,” or 屋頂 “roof.”

A compound ideogram formed from:

尸 (주검 시) — depicting a person reclining or covering, used here as a roof-like component symbolizing a covering structure.

至 (이를 지) — meaning to reach, to arrive, or in this case representing the foundation or floor level.

Together, they depict a covering over a base — symbolizing a roofed dwelling.

In Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字):

「屋，居也。从尸，至聲。」

“屋 means a dwelling; composed of 尸 (covering form) and 至 (phonetic).”

Thus, though 尸 serves as a pictorial radical (a covering person or roof), 至 also contributes partial phonetic value (ok / wù) and semantic nuance (“to reach, to settle”).

家屋 (가옥) — house, home, dwelling

屋宇 (옥우) — house and roof; mansion

屋頂 (옥정) — rooftop

屋內 (옥내) — inside the house

屋外 (옥외) — outside the house

房屋 (방옥) — house, building (esp. in legal or architectural contexts)

庵屋 (암옥) — small hermitage or hut

倉屋 (창옥) — storage house, granary

In classical Chinese cosmology and Confucian thought, 屋 represents stability, domestic order, and shelter — the minimal structure required for civilized life.

It forms part of expressions such as:

安居於屋 — “to live peacefully within one’s dwelling,” symbolizing contentment.

屋上之屋 — “a house upon a house,” meaning excess or redundancy.

In ancient texts, 屋 was sometimes used metonymically for the family or lineage itself, as the dwelling represented one’s inherited home (家屋 = lineage + household).

「屋漏之下，無以沐浴。」 (禮記·內則)

“Under a leaking roof, one cannot bathe” (The Book of Rites).

Here, 屋 refers literally to the roof and figuratively to the household itself.

Across East Asian languages, it retains its fundamental sense of shelter and dwelling, extending metaphorically to shops, families, or any enclosed space of human activity.