戍

shù

丶 + 戊

Definitions

shù garrison

Etymology

Pictograph of a person (人) with a weapon (戈).

About

戍 means to guard a frontier or garrison a border. Originally a pictograph of a person (人) with a weapon (戈), it depicts an armed guard. In the modern form, the person component has been reduced to a small stroke or dot inside the 戈, but the structure still conveys the same image. The character carries strong military and defensive connotations and appears mainly in historical texts on border security and troop deployments, rather than in everyday civilian vocabulary.

Etymology Hide

Oracle (~1250-1000 BC)

Bronze Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)

Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

士兵戍守边疆。

shì bīng shù shǒu biān jiāng.

Soldiers guard the border.

他们戍卫国家安全。

tā men shù wèi guó jiā ān quán.

They defend national security.

古代戍卒生活艰苦。

gǔ dài shù zú shēng huó jiān kǔ.

Ancient garrison soldiers lived a hard life.

戍边战士值得尊敬。

shù biān zhàn shì zhí dé zūn jìng.

Border guards are worthy of respect.

他在雪山戍守了十年。

tā zài xuě shān shù shǒu le shí nián.

He guarded the snow mountain for ten years.

戍守边疆是军人的职责。

shù shǒu biān jiāng shì jūn rén de zhí zé.

Guarding the border is the duty of soldiers.

为了戍卫国土，他们远离家乡。

wèi le shù wèi guó tǔ, tā men yuǎn lí jiā xiāng.

To defend the homeland, they are far away from their hometowns.

在历史中，戍卒们曾多次击退外敌。

zài lì shǐ zhōng, shù zú men céng duō cì jī tuì wài dí.

In history, garrison soldiers repeatedly repelled foreign enemies.

Related Characters

Composed characters:

Component: 丶

Component: 戊

戍