寝室

qǐnshì · HSK 7

sleeping room

🛏️ 寝 sleep + 室 room = the room where you sleep, a bedchamber

寝 means to sleep or rest; 室 means room or chamber. Put together, 寝室 is literally the sleep-room. The same 室 shows up in 教室 (classroom) and 办公室 (office).

室 — roof 宀 + arrive 至
A semantic compound: 宀 (roof/house) over 至 (to arrive). The image is a place one arrives at and stays in — an inner room. From 'inner chamber' the meaning broadened to 'room' generally, and by extension to specialized rooms like an office or laboratory.

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