梢 (shāo): tip of branch

梢 (shāo) is a Chinese character meaning “tip of branch.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 肖 (phonetic). It ranks #2621 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 梢 tree. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. tip of branch

Etymology & Origin

梢

pictophonetictree

Decomposition: ⿰木肖 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
盯梢verbdīng shāoto follow sb
末梢nounmò shāotip
树梢nounshù shāothe tip of a tree
发梢nounfà shāohair ends
眉梢nounméi shāotip of brow
末梢神经mò shāo shén jīngperipheral nerve
后梢hòu shāostern (of a boat)
梢公nounshāo gōngvariant of 艄公
眼梢yǎn shāocorner of eye near temple
白尾梢虹雉bái wěi shāo hóng zhì(bird species of China) Sclater's monal (Lophophorus sclateri)
尾梢nounwěi shāothe tip
钉梢dīng shāoold variant of 盯梢
12
Total compounds
8
As first character
75
As last character
17
As middle character

梢 appears in 12 compound words: 8 as the first character, 75 as the last, and 17 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 梢 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

盯dīng
0.54192 co-occurrences
末mò
0.508918 co-occurrences
槛jiàn
0.45322 co-occurrences
眉méi
0.44492 co-occurrences
树shù
0.407142 co-occurrences
枝zhī
0.403100 co-occurrences
嫩nèn
0.38536 co-occurrences
枯kū
0.38324 co-occurrences
插chā
0.381116 co-occurrences
翼yì
0.376124 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

末梢神经mò shāo shén jīngHSK 7+

peripheral nerve

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

秋风起,梢叶变黄,铺满了林间小路。

qiū fēng qǐ , shāo xié biàn huáng , pù mǎn le lín jiān xiǎo lù .

Autumn winds rise, Trees turn yellow, Leaves carpet the forest paths.

少数派Sep 2026

它很大,也很亮,拖着长长的尾巴,像一把发光的扫帚,安静地挂在夜晚的树梢上。

tā hěn dà , yě hěn liàng , tuō zhe cháng cháng de wěi bā , xiàng yī bǎ fā guāng de sǎo zhǒu , ān jìng dì guà zài yè wǎn de shù shāo shàng .

It was large and bright, with a long tail trailing behind it, like a glowing broom, hanging quietly from the treetops in the night.

中国新闻网·生活Sep 2026

脚是阳气末梢,寒从脚下来,早一点护脚,能减少冬天咳喘、关节不适。

jiǎo shì yáng qì mò shāo , hán cóng jiǎo xià lái , zǎo yī diǎn hù jiǎo , néng jiǎn shǎo dōng tiān hāi chuǎn , guān jié bù shì .

The feet are the extremities of yang energy; cold enters the body through the feet. Taking early steps to protect your feet can help reduce winter coughs, wheezing, and joint discomfort.

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

凭借着对忠诚与信仰的坚守和一股韧劲,肖大力自此开启了日复一日的盯梢。

píng jiè zhe duì zhōng chéng yǔ xìn yǎng de jiān shǒu hé yī gǔ rèn jìn , xiào dà lì zì cǐ kāi qǐ le rì fù yī rì de dīng shāo .

Armed with unwavering loyalty and conviction, as well as sheer tenacity, Xiao Dali began his day-in, day-out surveillance.

中国新闻网·文化May 2026

东北书博会精准对接群众阅读需求、优化配置文化资源,推动文化普惠直达基层末梢。

dōng běi shū bó huì jīng zhǔn duì jiē qún zhòng yuè dòu xū qiú , yōu huà pèi zhì wén huà zī yuán , tuī dòng wén huà pǔ huì zhí dá jī céng mò shāo .

The Northeast Book Fair precisely addresses the public’s reading needs, optimizes the allocation of cultural resources, and promotes the widespread accessibility of culture all the way to the grassroots level.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 木 (tree) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced shāo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 梢 (shāo) mean in Chinese?
梢 (shāo) primarily means "tip of branch." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2621 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 梢 and 消?
梢 (shāo) and 消 (xiāo) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 木 vs 氵 (same 肖 component).
How many strokes does 梢 have?
梢 is written with 11 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 梢?
The radical associated with 梢 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 梢?
梢 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 肖 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木肖 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 梢?
Common words with 梢 include: 盯梢 (dīng shāo, "to follow sb"); 末梢 (mò shāo, "tip"); 树梢 (shù shāo, "the tip of a tree"); 发梢 (fà shāo, "hair ends"); 眉梢 (méi shāo, "tip of brow"). There are over 12 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 梢 (shāo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shāo: 哨 (a whistle), 捎 (to bring sth to sb). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 梢 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 梢 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 梢 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.