馆 (guǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “guesthouse”. It is written from 饣 (food radical (simplified form of 食)) and 官 (official; government), side by side, and takes 11 strokes.
Build the character for “hall; guesthouse”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
饣 + 官
Left–right structure
Structure from: IDS ⿰饣官，笔画核验 3+8=11（hanzi-writer-data：笔画 0–2 为「饣」，3–10 为「官」）；《说文解字·食部》：館，客舍也。从食官聲
Memory aid
Picture a big hall where officials (官) sit down to be served food (饣) — 馆 is a hall or building where people gather: a restaurant, a library, a hotel.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
11 strokes
In real words
- 饭馆fàn guǎnrestaurant馆 = guǎn
- 图书馆tú shū guǎnlibrary馆 = guǎn
- 宾馆bīn guǎnhotel; guesthouse馆 = guǎn
- 博物馆bó wù guǎnmuseum馆 = guǎn
Go deeper
All readings
hall; building for guests or public use
guesthouse; hotel; a building for a public purpose (library, museum, embassy); a shop such as a restaurant
招待宾客住宿的房舍；也指图书馆、博物馆等文化场所或饭馆、茶馆等店铺。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 饭馆fàn guǎnrestaurant馆 = guǎn
- 图书馆tú shū guǎnlibrary馆 = guǎn
- 宾馆bīn guǎnhotel; guesthouse馆 = guǎn
- 博物馆bó wù guǎnmuseum馆 = guǎn
Sound component
官 family tone diff
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 馆 mean?
馆 (guǎn) means guesthouse; hotel; a building for a public purpose (library, museum, embassy); a shop such as a restaurant.
How do you pronounce 馆?
It is pronounced guǎn.
What parts is 馆 made of?
饣 (food radical (simplified form of 食)) and 官 (official; government), side by side. The recorded source is: IDS ⿰饣官，笔画核验 3+8=11（hanzi-writer-data：笔画 0–2 为「饣」，3–10 为「官」）；《说文解字·食部》：館，客舍也。从食官聲. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 馆 have?
11. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 馆?
食. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 馆?
Common ones are 饭馆, 图书馆, 宾馆. The reading of 馆 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.