樓

樓 (Kangxi radical 75, 木+11, 15 strokes, cangjie input 木中田女 (DLWV), four-corner 4594₄, composition ⿰木婁)

• KangXi: page 549, character 31
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 15430
• Dae Jaweon: page 937, character 24
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1279, character 4
• Unihan data for U+6A13
• Unihan data for U+F94C

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *ɡ·roː) : semantic 木 (“tree”) + phonetic 婁 (OC *ɡ·roː, *ɡ·ro).

樓

1. building (of two or more stories) (Classifier: 棟／栋 m c; 幢 m; 躉／趸 c; 間／间 c)

   教學樓／教学楼  ―  jiàoxuélóu  ―  classroom building

   • 登斯樓也，則有心曠神怡，寵辱皆忘，把酒臨風，其喜洋洋者矣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     登斯楼也，则有心旷神怡，宠辱皆忘，把酒临风，其喜洋洋者矣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1046, Fan Zhongyan, 岳陽樓記

     Dēng sī lóu yě, zé yǒu xīnkuàngshényí, chǒngrǔ jiē wàng, bǎjiǔ línfēng, qí xǐyángyáng zhě yǐ. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this example)

2. floor; level (Classifier: 層／层)

   那個房子有三層樓。 [MSC, trad.]
   那个房子有三层楼。 [MSC, simp.]

   Nàge fángzi yǒu sān céng lóu. [Pinyin]

   That house has three floors.

   我住喺二樓。／我住喺二楼。 [Cantonese]  ―  ngo⁵ zyu⁶ hai² ji⁶ lau^4-2. [Jyutping]  ―  I live on the second floor.

3. (Hong Kong) flat; apartment (Classifier: 層／层 c)

   賣咗層樓／卖咗层楼 [Cantonese]  ―  maai⁶ zo² cang⁴ lau^4-2 [Jyutping]  ―  to have sold one's flat

4. superstructure

   城樓／城楼  ―  chénglóu  ―  city gate tower

   角樓／角楼  ―  jiǎolóu  ―  corner tower (in Chinese architecture)

5. Used in the name of some businesses

   銀樓／银楼  ―  yínlóu  ―  jeweller’s shop

   酒樓／酒楼 [Cantonese]  ―  zau² lau⁴ [Jyutping]  ―  Chinese restaurant

   青樓／青楼  ―  qīnglóu  ―  brothel

6. (Internet slang) comment; post

   9樓／9楼  ―  9 lóu  ―  comment #9

   樓主／楼主  ―  lóuzhǔ  ―  OP

   蓋樓／盖楼  ―  gàilóu  ―  to reply to a thread

   借樓問一下／借楼问一下  ―  jièlóu wèn yīxià  ―  post a question

7. a surname

(Hong Kong) It may be ambiguous when referring to floors, as both UK and US systems were used in the past. Contemporary usage generally aligns with the UK usage.

• 一樓／一楼 [Cantonese]  ―  jat¹ lau^4-2 [Jyutping]  ―  first floor (UK), equivalent to US second floor
• 一樓／一楼 [Cantonese]  ―  jat¹ lau^4-2 [Jyutping]  ―  first floor (US), equivalent to UK ground floor

The second usage is dated, but still commonly seen in older buildings.

To avoid this ambiguity, some may explicitly refer to floor numbers with Arabic numerals, such as:

１字樓／１字楼 [Cantonese]  ―  jat¹ zi⁶ lau^4-2 [Jyutping]  ―  the floor numbered as 1, i.e. first floor (UK)

This similarly applies to subsequent floors.

• 層／层 (céng)
• 樓層／楼层 (lóucéng)

• → Thai: เหลา (lǎo, “restaurant”)
• → Vietnamese: lầu

• “樓”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “Entry #11183”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 楼)

1. tower
2. turret

• Go-on: る (ru)
• Kan-on: ろう (rō)
• Kun: たかどの (takadono, 樓); やぐら (yagura, 樓)

樓 (eumhun 다락 루 (darak ru), South Korea 다락 누 (darak nu))

1. Hanja form^? of 루/누 (“building of two or more stories”).

樓: Hán Nôm readings: lâu, lầu

1. (literary) a multi-story building
2. floor (of a multi-level building)
   • circa 19th century, Dương Minh; Ðức Thị, "Thạch Sanh Lý Thông Thư", lines 668-669

     呢段公主沖宮，𨕭楼袩𨑜庄用𠬠埃

     Này đoạn công chúa trong cung/ Trên lầu xem xuống chẳng dùng một ai.

     Now this part is of a princess in the palace, looking down from above without help from anyone.