莎 (shā): katydid (family Tettigoniidae), phonetic "sha" used in transliteration, used in 莎草

莎 (shā) is a Chinese character meaning “katydid (family tettigoniidae).” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 沙 (phonetic). It ranks #1687 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 莎 grass. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 蒸 (zhēng, to steam), 草 (cǎo, grass), 花 (huā, flower).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. katydid (family Tettigoniidae)
  2. phonetic "sha" used in transliteration
  3. used in 莎草

Etymology & Origin

莎

pictophoneticgrass

Decomposition: ⿱艹沙 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
莎拉proper-nounshā lāSara or Sarah (name)
伊丽莎白proper-nounyī lì shā báiElizabeth (person name)
莎士比亚shā shì bǐ yàShakespeare (name)
罗莎luó shāRosa (name)
蒙娜丽莎proper-nounméng nà lì shāMona Lisa
特雷莎proper-nountè léi shāTeresa
莎丽nounshā lìsari (loanword)
马莎mǎ shāMarks and Spencers, UK retail chain
斯宾诺莎proper-nounsī bīn nuò shāBaruch or Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677), rationalist philosopher
玛莎拉蒂mǎ shā lā dìMaserati
美杜莎proper-nounměi dù shāMedusa (monster of Greek mythology)
威廉·莎士比亚wēi lián · shā shì bǐ yàWilliam Shakespeare (1564-1616), poet and playwright
伊莉莎白yī lì shā báiElizabeth
阿加莎·克里斯蒂ā jiā shā · kè lǐ sī dìAgatha Christie
莎草nounsuō cǎococo-grass
34
Total compounds
35
As first character
35
As last character
29
As middle character

莎 appears in 34 compound words: 35 as the first character, 35 as the last, and 29 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 莎 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

颖yǐng
0.65016 co-occurrences
孙sūn
0.57516 co-occurrences
米mǐ
0.36520 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

蒙娜丽莎Méngnà Lìshā

Mona Lisa

斯宾诺莎Sībīnnuòshā

Spinoza (surname)

Showing 2 of 3 idioms containing 莎.

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·体育Sep 2026

女单决赛在两位中国选手之间展开,王曼昱战胜卫冕冠军孙颖莎,夺得冠军。

nǚ dān jué sài zài liǎng wèi zhōng guó xuǎn shǒu zhī jiān zhǎn kāi , wáng màn 昱 zhàn shèng wèi miǎn guàn jūn sūn yǐng shā , duó dé guàn jūn .

The women's singles final was an all-Chinese matchup, with Wang Manyu defeating defending champion Sun Yingsha to claim the title.

中国新闻网·体育Sep 2026

王楚钦/孙颖莎无缘三连冠。

wáng chǔ qīn sūn yǐng shā wú yuán sān lián guàn .

Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha failed to secure a third consecutive title.

中国新闻网·体育Sep 2026

(爱知·名古屋亚运会)林诗栋/蒯曼击败王楚钦/孙颖莎 夺得亚运会乒乓球混双冠军

( ài zhī míng gǔ wū yà yùn huì ) lín shī dòng kuǎi màn jī bài wáng chǔ qīn sūn yǐng shā duó dé yà yùn huì pīng pāng qiú hùn shuāng guàn jūn

(Aichi·Nagoya Asian Games) Lin Shidong and Kui Man Defeat Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha to Win the Asian Games Table Tennis Mixed Doubles Gold Medal

中国新闻网·体育Sep 2026

加油声中,王楚钦/孙颖莎、林诗栋/蒯曼成功会师混双决赛,为中国队提前将金牌收入囊中。

jiā yóu shēng zhōng , wáng chǔ qīn sūn yǐng shā , lín shī dòng kuǎi màn chéng gōng huì shī hùn shuāng jué sài , wéi zhōng guó duì tí qián jiāng jīn pái shōu rù náng zhōng .

Amid cheers from the crowd, Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha and Lin Shidong/Kui Man advanced to the mixed doubles final, securing the gold medal for the Chinese team ahead of schedule.

中国新闻网·体育Sep 2026

首盘比赛,孙颖莎对阵早田希娜。

shǒu pán bǐ sài , sūn yǐng shā duì zhèn zǎo tián xī nà .

In the first match, Sun Yingsha faced Hina Hayata.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 艹 (grass) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced shā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 莎 (shā) mean in Chinese?
莎 (shā) primarily means "katydid (family tettigoniidae)." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #1687 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 莎 have?
莎 is written with 10 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 莎?
The radical associated with 莎 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 莎?
莎 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 沙 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹沙 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 莎?
Common words with 莎 include: 莎拉 (shā lā, "Sara or Sarah (name)"); 伊丽莎白 (yī lì shā bái, "Elizabeth (person name)"); 莎士比亚 (shā shì bǐ yà, "Shakespeare (name)"); 罗莎 (luó shā, "Rosa (name)"); 蒙娜丽莎 (méng nà lì shā, "Mona Lisa"). There are over 34 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 莎 (shā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shā: 鲨 (shark). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 莎 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 莎 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 莎 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.