(shǎng): to bestow (a reward), to give (to an inferior), to hand down

(shǎng) is a Chinese character meaning “to bestow (a reward).” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #1441 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, money. Its radical form (shell) appears in many related characters such as (guì, abbr. for Guizhou Province 貴州|贵州[Gui4 zhou1]), (, to bear), (, responsibility).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to bestow (a reward)
  2. to give (to an inferior)
  3. to hand down

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticmoney

Decomposition: ⿱尚贝 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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
verbxīn shǎngto appreciate5
verbzàn shǎngto admire6
verbguān shǎngto look at sth with pleasure6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
shǎng jīnmonetary reward
jiǎng shǎngreward
xuán shǎngto offer a reward
shǎng shíto appreciate
shǎng liǎn(polite) do me the honor
shǎng xīn yuè mùwarms the heart and delights the eye (idiom)
shǎng guāngto do sb the honor (of attending etc)
shǎng cìto bestow a reward
jiàn shǎngto appreciate (as a connoisseur)
shǎng qiantip
jiàn shǎng jiāconnoisseur
kào shǎngreward
shǎng yuèto admire the full moon
zhòng shǎngample reward
wán shǎngto appreciate
42
Total compounds
33
As first character
57
As last character
10
As middle character

appears in 42 compound words: 33 as the first character, 57 as the last, and 10 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.

0.64110,374 co-occurrences
xīn
0.62513,967 co-occurrences
zàn
0.61512,462 co-occurrences
xuán
0.5473,855 co-occurrences
guàn
0.53613,266 co-occurrences
shí
0.5268,076 co-occurrences
jiàn
0.5183,676 co-occurrences
0.4571,734 co-occurrences
liè
0.4371,134 co-occurrences
0.422324 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

gōng gāo bù shǎngHSK 5+

high merit that one can never repay (idiom); invaluable achievements

phrase
gūfāngzìshǎngHSK 7+

to be conceited and indulge in self-admiration

phrase
qíwéngòngshǎngHSK 5+

to appreciate an unusually wonderful piece of writing together

phrase
shǎngxīnyuèmùHSK 7+

appealing

phrase
yǎsúgòngshǎngHSK 7+

to suit both scholars and laypeople; to appeal to all

phrase
yǒumùgòngshǎngHSK 5+

to have a universal appeal

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

月是中国传统节日中秋节的习俗之一。

Shǎng yuè shì Zhōngguó chuántǒng jiérì Zhōngqiū Jié de xísú zhī yī.

Appreciating the moon is one of the customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese festival.

東方日報Feb 2026

长者医疗券奖先导计划 延长两年至2028年底

cháng zhě yī liáo quàn jiǎng shǎng xiān dǎo jì huá yán cháng liǎng nián zhì 2 0 2 8 nián de

Pilot Scheme on Elderly Health Care Voucher Rewards extended for two years until the end of 2028

WorldjournalFeb 2026

1万元 济南长21米、高7米“巨型鳌鱼”...

xuán shǎng 1 wàn yuán jì nán cháng 2 1 mǐ , gāo 7 mǐ jù xíng 鳌 yú . . .

A reward of 10,000 yuan Jinan is 21 meters long and 7 meters high.

百度新闻Feb 2026

贵州烟火气·黔味中国年丨览林城山色,乌江画廊,赴..

guì zhōu yān huǒ qì 黔 wèi zhōng guó nián 丨 lǎn lín chéng shān sè , shǎng wū jiāng huà láng , fù . .

Guizhou Smoke and Fireworks-Guizhou Chinese New Year 丨visit the forest city mountain color, enjoy the Wujiang River Gallery, go to the ...

百度新闻Feb 2026

金山朱泾喊你来梅,只要名字里有这个字,门票全免!

jīn shān zhū 泾 hǎn nǐ lái shǎng méi , zhī yāo míng zì lǐ yǒu zhè gě zì , mén piào quán miǎn !

Jinshan Zhujing calls you to enjoy the plum, as long as the name has this word, the entrance fee is free!

百度新闻Feb 2026

广东一公司发帖“悬60万寻狗”,公司负责人称“..

guǎng dōng yī gōng sī fā tiē xuán shǎng mò xún gǒu , gōng sī fù zé rén chèn shǎng . .

A company in Guangdong posted a "reward of 600,000 yuan to find the dog", the company said "reward...

Tatoeba

凯特受所有人欣

Kǎitè shòu suǒyǒu rén xīnshǎng.

Kate is looked up to by everybody.

Tatoeba

游客到瑞士欣阿尔卑斯山。

Yóukè dào Ruìshì xīnshǎng ā'ěrbēisī shān.

Visitors to Switzerland admire the Alps.

Tatoeba

我希望汤姆欣它。

Wǒ xīwàng Tāngmǔ xīnshǎng tā.

I hope Tom appreciates it.

Tatoeba

汤姆欣现代艺术。

Tāngmǔ xīnshǎng xiàndài yìshù.

Tom appreciates modern art.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 赏 (shǎng) mean in Chinese?
赏 (shǎng) primarily means "to bestow (a reward)." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1441 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 赏 and 接?
赏 (shǎng) and 接 (jiē) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 赏 (give) vs 接 (receive).
How many strokes does 赏 have?
赏 is written with 12 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 赏?
The radical associated with 赏 is 贝 (shell). This radical appears in many characters related to shell.
What are the components of 赏?
赏 is composed of: 尚 (phonetic), 贝 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱尚贝 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 赏?
Common words with 赏 include: 欣赏 (xīn shǎng, "to appreciate"); 赏金 (shǎng jīn, "monetary reward"); 奖赏 (jiǎng shǎng, "reward"); 赞赏 (zàn shǎng, "to admire"); 观赏 (guān shǎng, "to look at sth with pleasure"). There are over 42 compound words containing this character.
Is 赏 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 赏 and the traditional form is 賞.

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.