Chinese character 寓

It means lodging, residence, or an idea placed indirectly.

In Chinese bronze inscriptions, 寓 already carries its lodging sense. The early Chinese dictionary Shuowen Jiezi glosses it as “to lodge” and analyzes it as 宀 plus 禺: 宀 is the roof-related meaning part, while 禺 supplies a sound element.

That lodging sense appears in 寓居 (“to reside”) and 公寓 (“apartment”). 寓意 is an implied meaning; 寓言 is a fable that carries an idea through a story. In the Chinese philosophical classic Zhuangzi, 寓言 describes making a point through a borrowed voice. Taiwan’s Ministry of Education dictionary records 庽 as another written form of 寓; fonts can draw a character differently without changing its identity.

How does context change 寓?

Read the word around it before choosing a sense.

Mandarin reads 寓 as yù in Pinyin: its vowel is close to “ee” with rounded lips, and the fourth tone falls. Japanese dictionaries give グウ (a long “u”) and グ (a short “u”); Japanese uses include lodging, indirect expression, and paying attention. The languages share the glyph, not one pronunciation or an identical set of uses.

On its own, 寓 leaves the intended word or sense open. If a message contains only this character, ask what word or language the sender had in mind.