(shā): granule, hoarse, raspy, sand, powder, CL:粒[li4]

(shā) is a Chinese character meaning “granule.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #848 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. granule
  2. hoarse
  3. raspy
  4. sand
  5. powder
  6. Classifier: 粒[li4]

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵少 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounshā fāsofa (loanword)3
nounshā mòdesert5
nounshā zisand5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
shā tānbeach
shā lā(loanword) salad
shā lóngsalon (loanword)
shā dàisandbag
shā tèSaudi
shā línsarin (loanword)
shā qiūsand dune
shā chǎngsandpit
shā bāosandbag
huá shāWarsaw, capital of Poland
shā dìsandy beach or river bank
shā kēngsandbox
shā huángczar (loanword)
jiā shāGaza (territory adjacent to Israel and Egypt)
shā yǎhoarse
100
Total compounds
76
As first character
24
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 76 as the first character, 24 as the last, and 0 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.67655,406 co-occurrences
0.62824,328 co-occurrences
tān
0.52915,664 co-occurrences
jiān
0.49924,514 co-occurrences
0.48320,412 co-occurrences
tián
0.46777,592 co-occurrences
0.4482,676 co-occurrences
qiū
0.44716,116 co-occurrences
chén
0.4293,042 co-occurrences
cháng
0.42780,526 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (11)

Fú'ěrmóshāHSK 6+

Formosa (historic name of Taiwan); Formosa (a province in northern Argentina)

hánshāshèyǐngHSK 6+

to attack or slander by insinuation

phrase
hénghéshāshùHSK 7+

an extremely large number of; as numerous as there are grains of sand in the Ganges

phrase
jùshāchéngtǎHSK 6+

by gathering small amounts one gets a huge quantity, many a mickle makes a muckle

phrase
MójiādíshāHSK 7+

Mogadishu (the capital of Somalia)

NàkōngshāwàngHSK 7+

Nakhon Sawan (a province of Thailand); Nakhon Sawan (a city in Thailand)

ní shā jù xiàHSK 6+

mud and sand flow together (idiom); good and bad mingle

phrase
pī shā jiǎn jīnHSK 7+

lit. to sort the gold from the sand (idiom); fig. to separate the wheat from the chaff

phrase
ShājiāmiǎnduóHSK 7+

Sacramento (a city, the state capital of California, United States)

shāpán tuīyǎnHSK 4+

to plan military strategy using a sand table; to conduct a practice run; to do a rehearsal; to run a mock

phrase
zhéjǐchénshāHSK 5+

to be defeated and sustain heavy damage or casualties

verb

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

孩子们在滩上堆城堡,玩得很开心。

Háizimen zài shātān shàng duī chéngbǎo, wán de hěn kāixīn.

The children built sandcastles on the beach and had a great time.

Irna ChineseFeb 2026

特阿拉伯前官员:任何对伊朗的军事打击都将...

shā tè ā lā bó qián guān yuán : rèn hé duì yī lǎng de jūn shì dǎ jī dōu jiāng . . .

Former Saudi Arabian official: Any military strike on Iran will...

東方日報Feb 2026

巴附近海域7.1级地震 暂未有伤亡报告

shā bā fù jìn hǎi yù 7 . 1 jí dì zhèn zàn wèi yǒu shāng wáng bào gào

No casualties have been reported in the waters near Sabah due to a magnitude 7.1 earthquake

百度新闻Feb 2026

10万元财物失而复得,长火车站春运暖心守护旅客行..

1 0 wàn yuán cái wù shī ér fù dé , cháng shā huǒ chē zhàn chūn yùn nuǎn xīn shǒu hù lǚ kè háng . .

100,000 yuan of property was lost and recovered, and Changsha Railway Station warmly guarded the passengers during the Spring Festival:

百度新闻Feb 2026

“城管蓝”护“新春红” 长城管以坚守绘就星城团圆..

chéng guǎn lán hù xīn chūn hóng cháng shā chéng guǎn yǐ jiān shǒu huì jiù xīng chéng tuán yuán . .

"City management blue" to protect the "New Year red" Changsha city management to persevere in painting the star city reunion...

百度新闻Feb 2026

菲律宾海警在我南群岛附近海域扔下两个黑色桶状物,..

菲 lǜ bīn hǎi jǐng zài wǒ nán shā qún dǎo fù jìn hǎi yù rēng xià liǎng gě hēi sè tǒng zhuàng wù , . .

Philippine maritime police dropped two black barrels in the waters off my Spratly Islands,...

Tatoeba

你能听到滩上海浪的声音吗?

Nǐ néng tīngdào shātān Shànghǎi làng de shēngyīn ma?

Can you hear the noise of the waves on the beach?

Tatoeba

比伦敦便宜吗?

Huáshā bǐ Lúndūn piányi ma?

Is Warsaw cheaper than London?

Tatoeba

你看过《漠雄狮》吗?

Nǐ kàn guo 《 shāmò xióngshī 》 ma?

Have you seen the movie "Lion of The Desert"?

Tatoeba

乌地阿拉伯有非常丰富的石油。

Shāwūdì ālābó yǒu fēicháng fēngfù de shíyóu.

Saudi Arabia is very rich in oil.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 沙 (shā) mean in Chinese?
沙 (shā) primarily means "granule." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #848 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 沙 and 炒?
沙 (shā) and 炒 (chǎo) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 氵 vs 火 (same 少 component).
How many strokes does 沙 have?
沙 is written with 7 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 沙?
The radical associated with 沙 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 沙?
沙 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 少 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵少 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 沙?
Common words with 沙 include: 沙发 (shā fā, "sofa (loanword)"); 沙漠 (shā mò, "desert"); 沙滩 (shā tān, "beach"); 沙拉 (shā lā, "(loanword) salad"); 沙子 (shā zi, "sand"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 沙 (shā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shā: 纱 (cotton yarn), 杀 (to kill), 砂 (sand). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 沙 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 沙 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.