What's the exact difference between 住 and 居?

Question

I wanted to know what's the exact difference between 住 and 居.

Since these characters mean the same thing, why can't I convince them together into one word meaning "to live"?

Thanks.

Answer 1

住 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/668/

[1] [v] live; reside; stay; dwell; inhabit [2] stop; cease

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居

http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/1017/

[1] [v] to live at, dwell, reside, inhabit, occupy, abode [2] [n] a residence, an house, dwelling

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居住

http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/4174/

to reside; to live (at some place) | [粵]: 住

• 住 is a verb for "to live (in); to reside (at) "
• 居 is mainly a noun for " a residence, an house, dwelling"

Since the meaning of " to live / to reside " has a dedicated verb 住 , and 居 as a verb, has other meanings (for example: occupy) , few people would use 居 for the meaning of 住 , except in instances that literal style of reading is preferred.

You can think of 居 is more literal and 住 is more colloquial when it comes to using a verb for "to live ; to reside"

Some example sentences:

他現在住在美國 (he currently resides in America)

他現居於美國 (he currently resides in America)

他現在在美國居住 (he currently resides in America)

*unlike 住 or 居, which is placed before the object , 居住 is placed after the object.

Answer 2

I don't have enough points to comment yet, but 居住 can be used before the object.

他居住在美国 is both acceptable and correct.

1. 住 means live

2. 居住 also means live but contains the meaning of stay (the period is longer than 住), and can imply "have a life there", such as set up a home. Even it doesn't have to be permanent, the length of time cannot be very short. Here are some examples:

a. You can say my friend is going to live with me/ in my house for 3 days：我朋友要在我家住三天。You cannot say 我朋友要在我家居住三天。This is because 3 days is a short period of time.

b. You can say you lived in a hotel for 3 days: 我在旅馆里住了三天。You cannot use 居住 in this case (lived in a hotel for 3 days) because you only live there temporarily and it doesn't require you to set up a home.

c. You can say 他居住在美国三年了。 As 3 years is a relatively long period and it requires you to set up a home of some kind to live in a city/country for this long. 居住 is more appropriate in this case.

3. 居/居于 is more literary, is rarely used in spoken language.

Answer 3

住and居 are interchangeable, and they can also be used together, with slightly different in meaning.

住者人主也**。 人 means human, person; 主 means occupy, owner. Thus 住 essentially means living in some place for a relative short term.

居者尸古也**。 尸 means corpse, dead body; 古 means ancient, old or long period of time here. Thus 居 essentially means living in some place too, but for a long term because ever after you are dead, ie, becoming a 尸 corpse, your soul will still live in that place for a long period of time.

Example:

• 中国人来美国定居。 Chinese come to America to live there for a long time.
• 你妈住在酒店。 Your mom is living in a hotel. (Probably short term)