(shā): sand

(shā) is a Chinese character meaning “sand.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #2574 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, many small 少 stones 石; 少 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form (stone) appears in many related characters such as (què, certain, true), (wǎn, bowl), (pèng, to touch, to bump).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. sand

Etymology & Origin

ideographicMany small 少 stones 石; 少 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰石少 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
shā guōcasserole
shā tánggranulated sugar
shā zhǐsandpaper (i.e. abrasive)
shā shísandstone
shā lìgrit
shā yánsandstone
mó shā bō lifrosted glass
shā zisand
bái shā tángwhite granulated sugar
tiě shāshot (in shotgun)
zhū shācinnabar
péng shāborax
shā jiāngmortar (building)
dǎ pò shā guō wèn dào dǐto go to the bottom of things (idiom)
shā lā yuèsee 沙撈越|沙捞越[Sha1 lao1 yue4]
49
Total compounds
37
As first character
39
As last character
24
As middle character

appears in 49 compound words: 37 as the first character, 39 as the last, and 24 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.

yán
0.55714,088 co-occurrences
yuè
0.52619,992 co-occurrences
táng
0.5196,195 co-occurrences
jiā
0.4821,530 co-occurrences
0.4662,688 co-occurrences
diàn
0.46410 co-occurrences
0.4583,432 co-occurrences
0.4441,488 co-occurrences
0.44219,578 co-occurrences
jiāng
0.438612 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

móshā bōliHSK 7+

frosted glass

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

建筑工地需要大量的石,运输车来来往往。

Jiànzhù gōngdì xūyào dàliàng de shāshí, yùnshū chē láiláiwǎngwǎng.

Construction sites need large amounts of sand and gravel; transport trucks come and go.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

影/新北石车猛撞机车...越南女骑士当场丧命 疑...

yǐng xīn běi shā shí chē měng zhuàng jī chē . . . yuè nán nǚ qí shì dāng chǎng sāng mìng yí . . .

Shadow/New Taipei sand and gravel truck slammed into locomotive... The Vietnamese female knight died on the spot suspicious...

99 健康网Feb 2026

白人女婿吃糖橘吃成贵州本地人,吃糖橘这些健康事项...

bái rén nǚ xù chī shā táng jú chī chéng guì zhōu běn dì rén , chī shā táng jú zhè xiē jiàn kāng shì xiàng . . .

The white son-in-law eats sugar oranges and eats them as Guizhou locals, and eats sugar oranges and other health matters...

99 健康网Feb 2026

白人女婿吃糖橘吃成贵州本地人?真相揭秘:这种黄皮肤...

bái rén nǚ xù chī shā táng jú chī chéng guì zhōu běn dì rén ? zhēn xiāng jiē mì : zhè zhǒng huáng pí fū . . .

The white son-in-law eats sugar oranges and becomes a native of Guizhou? The truth is revealed: this yellow skin...

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Feb 2026

沈桂贤:饮酒养猪不是问题!拉越多元包容才是真实力

沈 guì xián yǐn jiǔ yǎng zhū bù shì wèn tí ! shā lā yuè duō yuán bāo róng cái shì zhēn shí lì

Shen Guixian: Drinking and raising pigs is no problem! Sarawak's true strength lies in its diversity and inclusivity.

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

台灣失格旅人大鬧日本旅店!高屋暖回:不會把台人當麻煩製造者

tái 灣 shī gé lǚ rén dà 鬧 rì běn lǚ diàn ! gāo shā wū nuǎn huí bù 會 bǎ tái rén 當 má 煩 製 zào zhě

Disqualified Taiwanese Tourist Causes Ruckus at Japanese Inn! Takasago Inn Warmly Responds: "We Won't Treat Taiwanese as Troublemakers"

Tatoeba

不好意思,可以帮我拿下糖吗?

Bù hǎoyìsi, kěyǐ bāng wǒ náxià shātáng ma?

Excuse me, would you mind passing me the sugar?

Tatoeba

我们需要面粉、糖和鸡蛋来做这个蛋糕。

Wǒmen xūyào miànfěn, shātáng hé jīdàn lái zuò zhège dàngāo.

We need flour, sugar and eggs to make this cake.

Tatoeba

这家店卖的是牛油、奶酪、糖之类的食品。

Zhè jiā diàn mài de shì niúyóu, nǎilào, shātáng zhīlèi de shípǐn.

The store sells foodstuffs, such as butter, cheese, and sugar.

Tatoeba

罐头里没有糖了。

Guàntou lǐ méiyǒu shātáng le.

There is no sugar left in the pot.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 砂 (shā) mean in Chinese?
砂 (shā) primarily means "sand." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2574 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 砂 have?
砂 is written with 9 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 砂?
The radical associated with 砂 is 石 (stone). This radical appears in many characters related to stone.
What are the components of 砂?
砂 is composed of: 石 (structural), 少 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰石少 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 砂?
Common words with 砂 include: 砂锅 (shā guō, "casserole"); 砂糖 (shā táng, "granulated sugar"); 砂纸 (shā zhǐ, "sandpaper (i.e. abrasive)"); 砂石 (shā shí, "sandstone"); 砂砾 (shā lì, "grit"). There are over 49 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 砂 (shā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shā: 杀 (to kill), 沙 (granule), 纱 (cotton yarn), 鲨 (shark), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 砂 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 砂 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.