尸 vs 户

From their writing, the only thing making 尸 and 户 different is that point. How about their meanings? Which one is more versatile?




, a pictographic character of a person receiving offerings on behalf of the dead during sacrificial rites in ancient times, serves as a semantic component to form characters denoting the following meanings:

  1. House-related meanings 屋 house, 居 live, 层 floor
  2. Body-related meanings 尾, tail,尿,urine,尻 rump
  3. Shoe-related meanings 屣xǐ shoes, 屐 clog, 屦jù straw sandal

The most common compound words of 尸 is 尸体 corpse,尸首 corpse,尸骨 skeleton of a corpse,僵尸 corpse,验尸 autopsy, etc.


, a pictographic character of single-leafed door, serves as semantic component to form characters denoting meanings related to a door or house such as: 扉 door panel, 房 house, 店 shop.

The most common compound words of 户 is 用户 user, 账户 account,住户 household,户籍 registered permanent residence,门户 door/gateway,ect.

Besides, 户 can be used as a measure word for the number of households for example,十户人家ten households while 尸 can’t be usded as a measure word.