塾

shú
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 private school (in old China)
  2. 2 village tutoring school

Examples

HSK 6
Shú shī jiāo cūn lǐ de háizi shízì.
The private-school teacher taught the village children to read.
HSK 7-9
Jiùshí háizi zài sīshú lǐ dú jīngshū.
In old times children studied the classics at a private school.

Tips

history
塾 refers to the old-style private school, 私塾, where a tutor taught a small group of children Confucian texts before modern public schooling existed.

Components

radical
土 tǔ
earth; ground
土 is the earth radical at the bottom. It points to a building raised on the ground, here the schoolhouse where lessons were held.
phonetic
孰 shú
who; which
孰 sits on top and supplies the sound shú, matching its own reading exactly. It carries the pronunciation, not the meaning.

Stroke Order

塾 shú