宀

A type of deep house with walls on all four sides, a roof, a main hall, and back rooms.

In South Korea, Japan, and China, 宀 is never used alone as an independent character; it only appears as a radical within other characters.

宀 is positioned at the "top" of Chinese characters to form many different characters.

Although characters with the 宀 radical have various meanings and few commonalities, since 宀 is a pictograph representing a roof, many of these characters relate somewhat to houses or homes.

Representative characters meaning house/home include:

家 (home)

室 (room)

宮 (palace)

宇 (house, eaves)

宙 (space, universe)

宅 (residence)

Other meanings include:

安 (peaceful)

定 (to decide)

完 (complete)

容 (appearance)

寤 (to wake)

富 (wealthy)

實 (fruit, reality)

寶 (treasure)

客 (guest)

害 (harm)

Be careful not to confuse 宀 with the 穴 radical.

As explained in the 穴 article, 穴 is a different radical that also appears at the top of characters, making it easy to mix up.

Characters like 字 (character), 蜜 (honey), 賓 (guest), and 憲 (law) do not have the 宀 radical.

Though the meaning of 宀 is "roof," when used as a radical, it is often called “갓머리” (literally “hat top”).