About
The character for "warehouse" or "repository", now commonly written as 库, originates from its traditional form 庫, a structural composition where the component 广 indicates a covering shelter or building, and 車 signifies a cart or vehicle. This etymology points directly to its original meaning as a secured shed or arsenal for storing war chariots and military vehicles, a specialized function in ancient logistics. Over time, the semantic scope of the character broadened significantly, generalizing from this specific military storage to denote any building or facility used for the safekeeping of goods, materials, or even data, thus encompassing granaries, treasuries, and modern databases. The later simplified form 库 retained the sheltering radical 广 but replaced the detailed 車 with the simpler phonetic component 车, which mirrors the modern character for vehicle, preserving a trace of its original conceptual logic while streamlining its written form.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
这个仓库非常宽敞。
水库里的水很清。
库房里存放着货物。
他把车停在车库里面。
这个数据库非常有用。
我们需要检查库存数量。
图书馆是知识的宝库。
他负责管理公司的数据库系统。