How to Say "Tower" in Chinese

塔

tǎ

In Chinese, the word for tower is 塔 (tǎ). Wiktionary also lists 塔樓 / 塔楼 (tǎlóu) and 樓閣 / 楼阁 (lóugé).

Meaning: tall, narrow structure (noun)

Ways to say it

For example, a bell tower is 钟塔 and a water tower is 水塔. A lighthouse is expressed as 燈塔 (lamp tower).

The word 塔樓 consists of 塔 (tower) and 樓 (multi-story building).

While 塔 can refer to any tower, it is the specific term used for Buddhist pagodas or ancient religious towers.

tǎ

The character 塔 is a phonetic loanword that likely traveled from ancient India into China along with Buddhism. It is a direct relative of the Sanskrit word stūpa, which refers to a Buddhist relic mound.
Ancient Chinese towers were often designed with odd numbers of stories, such as seven or nine, to align with cosmological beliefs.
The radical 土 in 塔 refers to 'earth' or 'soil', reflecting the ancient practice of building sacred mounds and stupas from compacted earth and clay.

塔有點向西邊傾斜。
The tower leaned slightly to the west.
This sentence shows the use of 塔 to describe the lean of a structure.
Tatoeba #5868151 by xjjAstrus, translation #279670 by CK
学校最高的建筑就是那个水塔。
The school's tallest structure is that water tower.
This sentence illustrates how 塔 is used to describe a water tower.
Tatoeba #1759600 by sadhen, translation #8716834 by krrk
他们说人类要重建巴别塔，我对此不予评价。
They said humanity needs to rebuild the Tower of Babel, I have no comment on this.
This sentence demonstrates the use of 塔 in the context of the Tower of Babel.
Tatoeba #9990111 by GlossaMatik, translation #11272752 by Aphima
埃菲尔塔 (āi fēi ěr tǎ)
Eiffel Tower
我可以从窗户看到塔 (wǒ kě yǐ cóng chuāng hù kàn dào tǎ)
I can see the tower from my window
16 more sentences on Tatoeba

Two friends are looking at a historical site from a distance.

雨婷 Yuting

你看，那座古塔很高。
Nǐ kàn, nà zuò gǔtǎ hěn gāo.
Look, that ancient tower is very tall.
俊杰 Junjie

那座塔看起来很有名。
Nà zuò tǎ kàn qǐlái hěn yǒumíng.
That tower looks very famous.
雨婷 Yuting

俊杰，我们去那里看看吧。
Jùnjié, wǒmen qù nàlǐ kàn kàn ba.
Junjie, let's go over there and take a look.
俊杰 Junjie

好啊，走吧。
Hǎo a, zǒu ba.
Okay, let's go.

Sources

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