How to Write 塾 (shú) — Meaning “private school (old style)”

Imagine a "school" (塾) where students sit on the ground (土) and ask "who" (孰) is the teacher. The top part 土 looks like a desk or floor, and 孰 sounds like "shoo" — shoo the kids into the private school.

Write the top radical 土 first (three strokes: horizontal, vertical, horizontal), then the bottom part 孰. The bottom part has 11 strokes: start with 丶 (dot), then 一 (horizontal), then 口 (three strokes), then 子 (three strokes) and finally 戈 (three strokes). Be careful not to confuse the order inside 孰: write 亠, then 口, then 子, then 戈.

塾 means private school (old style) and has radical 土 with 孰 below. 堙 (yīn) means to block or bury, and its right part is 垔 (yīn, a phonetic component). 堞 (dié) means a battlement or parapet on a city wall, and its right part is 枼 (yè, meaning leaf or thin piece). Their meanings and pronunciations are completely different, so focus on the bottom parts: 孰 for school, 垔 for bury, 枼 for wall.

塾 is mostly used in historical or literary contexts to describe traditional private schools in ancient China, like 私塾 (sī shú). You might see it in discussions about Chinese education history or in historical novels. It is not common in everyday conversation today but appears in fixed terms like 塾师 (private teacher) and 家塾 (family school).

Common words containing 塾 include: 私塾 (sī shú) — private school (old style); 塾师 (shú shī) — private school teacher; 家塾 (jiā shú) — Private family school.