室

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *hliɡ): semantic 宀 (“roof”) + phonetic 至 (OC *tjiɡs). Its original meaning is "house, residence".

The arrows also indicates that a residence is a place or spot which somebody stops by, marked by an arrow on the ground, hence the phonetic component also adds part of the meaning. Therefore, the character can also be understood as an ideogrammic compound – "a ⼧ roof over ⾄ this exact spot". According to Shuowen Jiezi, it is indeed so, as the meaning is "至所止 arrive at a specific place, symbolized by the roof.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *k-li(s). Cognate to Tibetan གཞིས (gzhis) < གལྱི (glyi, “ground, foundation, cause; residence, abode”), ས་གཞི (sa gzhi, “earth (opposite to sky)”), གཞིས (gzhis, “native place”), ཡུལ་གཞིས (yul gzhis, “house, estate, property”), གཞིས་སྒྲིལ་བ (gzhis sgril ba, “to move, to change one's abode”). Also cognate to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *mliy, from which Burmese မြေ (mre, “earth, soil”) is derived.