塞 (sāi): to plug, to stop up, to stuff in, (bound form) a stopper, a cork, (bound form) strategic stronghold
塞 (sāi) is a Chinese character meaning “to plug.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 宀 (structural) and 土 (semantic). It ranks #1079 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 塞 earth. Its radical form 土 (earth) appears in many related characters such as 在 (zài, to exist), 地 (dì, earth, ground), 场 (chǎng, field, place).
Definitions
- to plug
- to stop up
- to stuff in
- (bound form) a stopper
- a cork
- (bound form) strategic stronghold
Etymology & Origin
pictophoneticearth
Stroke Order
Practice writing 塞 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 要塞noun | yào sài | stronghold |
| 堵塞verb | dǔ sè | to clog up |
| 哇塞interjection | wā sāi | (slang) wow! |
| 阻塞verb | zǔ sè | to block |
| 活塞noun | huó sāi | piston |
| 塞车verb | sāi chē | traffic jam |
| 斯宾塞 | sī bīn sài | (name) Spencer |
| 耳塞noun | ěr sāi | earplug |
| 巴塞罗那proper-noun | bā sài luó nà | Barcelona, Spain |
| 布鲁塞尔proper-noun | bù lǔ sài ěr | Brussels, capital of Belgium |
| 塞尔维亚 | sài ěr wéi yà | Serbia |
| 塞缪尔proper-noun | sài miù ěr | (name) Samuel |
| 搪塞verb | táng sè | to muddle through |
| 栓塞verb | shuān sè | (medicine) embolism |
| 塞族noun | sài zú | Serb ethnic group (abbr. for 塞爾維亞族|塞尔维亚族) |
塞 appears in 100 compound words: 30 as the first character, 43 as the last, and 27 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 塞 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (23)
to work halfheartedly; to go through the motions; to perform one's duty in a perfunctory manner
in order to minimally fulfill one's responsibilities; in order to get off the hook
to be enlightened all of a sudden; to come to the realization all of a sudden
in order to minimally fulfill one's responsibilities; in order to get off the hook
to work halfheartedly; to go through the motions; to perform one's duty in a perfunctory manner
Showing 12 of 23 idioms containing 塞.
Example Sentences
塞豆是东北地区的主要农作物之一。
sāi dòu shì dōng běi dì ōu de zhǔ yāo nóng zuò wù zhī yī .
Soybeans are one of the primary crops in Northeast China.
西甲|巴塞隆拿中场法兰基迪庄受伤 将缺阵逾月 为欧...
xī jiǎ bā sāi lóng ná zhōng chǎng fǎ lán jī dí zhuāng shòu shāng jiāng quē zhèn yú yuè wéi ōu . . .
La Liga|Barcelona midfielder Frankie Di Zhuang is injured and will be out for more than a month.
西甲|巴塞正式启动买拉舒福特谈判 传欲压价 曼联企...
xī jiǎ bā sāi zhèng shì qǐ dòng mǎi lā shū fú tè tán pàn chuán yù yā jià 曼 lián qǐ . . .
La Liga|Barcelona officially launched negotiations to buy Rashford, rumored to be about to lower the price of Manchester United...
台湾人看大陆》塞上古城宣化一日游
tái wān rén kàn dà lù sāi shàng gǔ chéng xuān huà yī rì yóu
Taiwanese people look at the mainland" A one-day trip to the ancient city of Xuanhua
...疯玩“热狗肠包X” 珍珠虾滑杨枝甘露乜都塞
. . . fēng wán rè gǒu cháng bāo X zhēn zhū xiā huá yáng zhī gān lù 乜 dōu sāi
... Crazy about playing "hot dog sausage bun X" pearl shrimp slippery poplar branch nectar stuffed with everything
警察变毒贩 欧塞奎拉凶残难捉摸
jǐng chá biàn dú fàn ōu sāi 奎 lā xiōng cán nán zhuō mō
The police turned drug dealer Ossequira was brutal and elusive
你想去瓦伦西亚还是巴塞罗那？
Nǐ xiǎng qù wǎ lún Xī Yà háishi Bāsàiluónà?
Do you want to go to Valencia or Barcelona?
玛丽，你想学塞尔维亚语吗？
Mǎlì, nǐ xiǎng xué Sāi'ěrwéiyàyǔ ma?
Do you want to learn Serbian, Mary?
秘书把信塞到一个信封里。
Mìshū bǎ xìn sāi dào yī gè xìnfēng lǐ.
The secretary stuffed the letter into an envelope.
当我在塞勒姆的时候, 我常常和约翰打网球。
Dāng wǒ zài Sāilèmǔ de shíhou, wǒ chángcháng héyuē hàn dǎ wǎngqiú.
When I was in Salem, I would often play tennis with John.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 土 (earth) component
Homophones — Characters pronounced sāi
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 塞 (sāi) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 塞 and 下?
How many strokes does 塞 have?
What is the radical of 塞?
What are the components of 塞?
What are common words containing 塞?
What characters sound the same as 塞 (sāi)?
Is 塞 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 塞 with real-time feedback
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