丧 (sāng): mourning, funeral, (old) corpse

丧 (sāng) is a Chinese character meaning “mourning.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亡 (structural). It ranks #1396 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, 丧 simplified form of 喪; to cry 哭 over the dead 亡. Its radical form 一 (one) appears in many related characters such as 一 (yī, one), 七 (qī, seven), 三 (sān, three).

Spoken pronunciation
HSK 6Radical: 一 one8 strokesFrequency #1396亡 structural

Definitions

  1. mourning
  2. funeral
  3. (old) corpse

Etymology & Origin

丧

pictographicSimplified form of 喪; to cry 哭 over the dead 亡

Components:亡structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Practice writing 丧 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 丧

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
丧失verbsàng shīto lose6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
沮丧adjectivejǔ sàngdispirited
丧命verbsàng mìngto lose one's life
丧生verbsàng shēngto die
丧气verbsàng qìto feel disheartened
丧礼nounsāng lǐfuneral
丧心病狂phrasesàng xīn bìng kuáng(idiom) deranged
丧葬nounsāng zàngfuneral and interment
灰心丧气phrasehuī xīn sàng qìdownhearted
丧服nounsāng fúmourning garment
丧事nounsāng shìfuneral arrangements
哭丧着脸verbkū sang zhe liǎnto pull a long face
服丧verbfú sāngin mourning
闻风丧胆phrasewén fēng sàng dǎnhear the wind and lose gall (idiom)
哭丧verbkū sāngto wail at a funeral
玩物丧志phrasewán wù sàng zhìlit. trifling destroys the will (idiom)
74
Total compounds
54
As first character
31
As last character
15
As middle character

丧 appears in 74 compound words: 54 as the first character, 31 as the last, and 15 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 丧 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

沮jǔ
0.7032,217 co-occurrences
失shī
0.5398,032 co-occurrences
尸shī
0.493901 co-occurrences
葬zàng
0.4481,170 co-occurrences
奔bēn
0.437586 co-occurrences
生shēng
0.42910,378 co-occurrences
祸huò
0.421174 co-occurrences
礼lǐ
0.419882 co-occurrences
尾wěi
0.41213 co-occurrences
颓tuí
0.40134 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (16)

垂头丧气chuítóusàngqìHSK 6+

dispirited; dejected; frustrated

phrase
灰心丧气huīxīnsàngqìHSK 6+

disheartened; discouraged; downhearted; downcast; in despair

phrase
哭丧着脸kūsāng zhe liǎnHSK 6+

to put on a long face; to look unhappy or depressed

verb
若有所丧ruò yǒu suǒ sàngHSK 7+

see 若有所失

phrase
丧魂落魄sànghúnluòpòHSK 7+

synonym of 失魂落魄 (shīhúnluòpò)

phrase
丧家之狗sàngjiāzhīgǒuHSK 6+

a stray dog; a desperate person who has nobody to turn to

phrase
丧家之犬sàngjiāzhīquǎnHSK 7+

synonym of 喪家之狗 /丧家之狗 (sàngjiāzhīgǒu)

phrase
丧尽天良sàngjìntiānliángHSK 6+

to be utterly devoid of conscience; to be extremely vicious and evil

phrase
丧权辱国sàngquánrǔguóHSK 7+

to cause the country to lose its sovereignty and be humiliated

phrase
丧天害理sàng tiān hài lǐHSK 6+

devoid of conscience (idiom)

phrase
丧心病狂sàngxīnbìngkuángHSK 6+

frenzied; crazy; ridiculous

phrase
失魂丧魄shī hún sàng pòHSK 7+

see 喪魂失魄|丧魂失魄

phrase

Showing 12 of 16 idioms containing 丧.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

丧字的写法很特别,让我印象深刻。

sāng zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .

The way the character "丧" is written is quite unique and left a deep impression on me.

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

情人来访泄露行踪 墨西哥大毒枭随后丧命

qíng rén lái fǎng xiè lù háng zōng mò xī gē dà dú 枭 suí hòu sāng mìng

Lover's visit leaks Mexican drug lord subsequently killed

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Feb 2026

诗巫肥料罗里追尾油槽罗里 乘客不幸丧命 两人受伤

shī wū féi liào luó lǐ zhuī wěi yóu cáo luó lǐ chéng kè bù xìng sāng mìng liǎng rén shòu shāng

Sibu Fertilizer Rory rear-ended the oil tank Rory, the passenger was killed, and two others were injured

三立新聞網Feb 2026

仙气调酒喝下肚小心胃穿孔 警:最惨丧命

xiān qì diào jiǔ hē xià dù xiǎo xīn wèi chuān kǒng jǐng : zuì cǎn sāng mìng

Fairy cocktail drink, be careful of stomach perforation Police: The most tragic death

LtnFeb 2026

8岁男童命丧花莲鲤鱼潭!家属控快艇“船尾浪”酿祸 交...

8 suì nán tóng mìng sāng huā lián lǐ yú tán ! jiā shǔ kòng kuài tǐng chuán wěi làng niàng huò jiāo . . .

An 8-year-old boy died in Hualien Liyu Pond! The family controlled the speedboat's "stern waves" to cause trouble...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

6旬骑士游南横公路自撞护栏 摔50米边坡丧命...撞击瞬间曝光

6 xún qí shì yóu nán héng gōng lù zì zhuàng hù lán shuāi 5 0 mǐ biān pō sāng mìng . . . zhuàng jī shùn jiān pù guāng

A 60-year-old knight traveled to Nanheng Highway and crashed into a guardrail and fell 50 meters down the slope and died... The impact was instantaneously exposed

Tatoeba

丧失健康比丧失金钱更糟糕。

Sàngshī jiànkāng bǐ sàngshī jīnqián gèng zāogāo.

Losing one's health is worse than losing money.

Tatoeba

我为小事情觉得沮丧。

Wǒ wèi xiǎoshì qíng juéde jǔsàng.

I get depressed by the slightest things.

Tatoeba

他完全丧失了责任心。

Tā wánquán sàngshī le zérènxīn.

He has completely lost all sense of duty.

Tatoeba

他完全丧失了能成功的信心。

Tā wánquán sàngshī le néng chénggōng de xìnxīn.

He had lost all faith in his ability to succeed.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced sāng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 丧 (sāng) mean in Chinese?
丧 (sāng) primarily means "mourning." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1396 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 丧 have?
丧 is written with 8 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 丧?
The radical associated with 丧 is 一 (one). This radical appears in many characters related to one.
What are the components of 丧?
丧 is composed of: 亡 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 丧?
Common words with 丧 include: 沮丧 (jǔ sàng, "dispirited"); 丧失 (sàng shī, "to lose"); 丧命 (sàng mìng, "to lose one's life"); 丧生 (sàng shēng, "to die"); 丧气 (sàng qì, "to feel disheartened"). There are over 74 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 丧 (sāng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation sāng: 桑 ((bound form) mulberry tree), 嗓 (throat). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 丧 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 丧 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 丧 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.