Onyomi: ジュウ, チュウ, ヂュウ · Kunyomi: -ず.まい, す.まう, す.む · Meanings: dwell, inhabit, live, reside
Kanji for dwell, inhabit, live, reside
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Find visually similar kanji, commonly confused characters, related meanings, and useful words connected to 住.
The kanji 住 combines the “person” radical (亻) with the character for “place” or “main” (主), symbolizing a person residing in a place. In ancient times, it represented living in a house or dwelling. 住 came to mean live, reside, or inhabit, capturing the idea of a person settled in a home.
A person at a place — 住 means to live, reside, or inhabit.
Imagine a person living peacefully in their house — that’s 住, the kanji for residing and dwelling.
| Word | Reading | Meaning | Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 住 | じゅう | dwelling, living | common JLPT-N1 Noun |
| 住所 | じゅうしょ | address (of a home, business, etc.), residence, domicile | common JLPT-N4 Noun |
| 住む | すむ | to live (of humans), to reside, to inhabit, to dwell, to abide | common JLPT-N5 Godan verb with 'mu' ending, Intransitive verb |
| 住民 | じゅうみん | inhabitant, resident, citizen, population | common JLPT-N3 Noun |
| 住宅 | じゅうたく | residence, housing, residential building | common JLPT-N3 Noun |
| 住まい | すまい | dwelling, house, residence, address | common JLPT-N2 Noun |
| 住み心地 | すみごこち | (level of) comfort (in the place one lives) | common Noun |
| 住人 | じゅうにん | dweller, inhabitant, resident | common Noun |
| 住宅街 | じゅうたくがい | residential area | common Noun |
| 住み込み | すみこみ | live-in (e.g. job) | Noun, Noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no' |