(shào): to continue, to carry on

(shào) is a Chinese character meaning “to continue.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1228 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, thread. Its radical form (silk) appears in many related characters such as (, to connect), (lěi, to accumulate), (gěi, give).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to continue
  2. to carry on

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticthread

Decomposition: ⿰纟召 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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
verbjiè shàoto introduce (sb to sb)2

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
bǐ shàoBissau, capital of Guinea-Bissau
jiè shào xìnletter of introduction
jǐ nèi yà bǐ shàoGuinea-Bissau
zì wǒ jiè shàoself-introduction
jiǎn yào jiè shàobrief introduction
shào xīng shìShaoxing, prefecture-level city in Zhejiang Province 浙江省[Zhe4 jiang1 Sheng3]
mǎ shào ěr qún dǎoMarshall Islands
shào xīng jiǔShaoxing wine a.k.a. "yellow wine", traditional Chinese wine made from glutinous rice and wheat
shào xīngsee 紹興市|绍兴市[Shao4 xing1 Shi4]
jiǎn duǎn jiè shàobrief introduction
hūn yīn jiè shào suǒmarriage agency
shào mò jí zhōuSomogy, a county in southwest Hungary, capital 考波什堡[Kao3 bo1 shi2 bao3]
chén shàoaged Shaoxing wine (abbr. for 陳年紹興酒|陈年绍兴酒[chen2 nian2 Shao4 xing1 jiu3])
táng shào yíTang Shaoyi (1862-1939), politician and diplomat
kè shào jī qiúto follow in one's father's footsteps
17
Total compounds
24
As first character
47
As last character
29
As middle character

appears in 17 compound words: 24 as the first character, 47 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

jiè
0.735117,687 co-occurrences
xīng
0.59930,486 co-occurrences
yuán
0.4784,806 co-occurrences
xiáng
0.4292,376 co-occurrences
píng
0.4231,938 co-occurrences
zhè
0.4003,180 co-occurrences
qīn
0.3871,014 co-occurrences
huáng
0.3844,476 co-occurrences
0.3772,544 co-occurrences
páng
0.372666 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

zìwǒ jièshàoHSK 2+

to introduce oneself

verb
kè shào jī qiúHSK 4+

to follow in one's father's footsteps

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请允许我介一下,这位是我们公司的新经理。

Qǐng yǔnxǔ wǒ jièshào yīxià, zhè wèi shì wǒmen gōngsī de xīn jīnglǐ.

Please allow me to introduce; this is our company's new manager.

It之家Mar 2026

“老乡”搭讪藏陷阱:以介高薪工作、免费住宿为由,获取身份信息、盗...

lǎo xiāng dā 讪 zàng xiàn jǐng : yǐ jiè shào gāo xīn gōng zuò , miǎn fèi zhù sù wéi yóu , huò qǔ shēn fèn xìn xī , dào . . .

"Fellow villagers" pick up and hide traps: on the pretext of introducing high-paying jobs and free accommodation, obtaining identity information, stealing...

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

台盟中央介2026年全国两会建言素材 关注两岸融合...

tái méng zhōng yāng jiè shào 2 0 2 6 nián quán guó liǎng huì jiàn yán sù cái guān zhù liǎng àn róng gě . . .

The Central Committee of the Taiwan League introduced the suggestions of the two sessions of the National People's Congress in 2026 and paid attention to cross-strait integration...

Hk01.comFeb 2026

68岁议员陈雄澳洲急病入院卧床 未能返港料缺席立法会...

6 8 suì yì yuán chén shào xióng ào zhōu jí bìng rù yuàn wò chuáng wèi néng fǎn gǎng liào quē xí lì fǎ huì . . .

68-year-old Member Chan Siu-hung was hospitalized in Australia for an emergency and was unable to return to Hong Kong and was expected to be absent from the Legislative Council...

NewsFeb 2026

转工|CEO揭求职面试关键 别再背自我介 希望听到这些真成就

zhuǎn gōng jiē qiú zhí miàn shì guān jiàn bié zài bèi zì wǒ jiè shào xī wàng tīng dào zhè xiē zhēn chéng jiù

Transfer of work | CEO reveals the key to job interviews, don't memorize yourself, I hope to hear about these real achievements

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

中方介德国总理默茨访华安排:愿推动中德关系取得...

zhōng fāng jiè shào dé guó zǒng lǐ mò 茨 fǎng huá ān pái yuàn tuī dòng zhōng dé guān xì qǔ dé . . .

China Outlines German Chancellor Merz's Visit Arrangements: Committed to Advancing Sino-German Relations...

Tatoeba

你可以介一间附近的好餐厅吗?

Nǐ kěyǐ jièshào yī jiān fùjìn de hǎo cāntīng ma?

Could you recommend a nice restaurant near here?

Tatoeba

可以介几道素菜吗?

Kěyǐ jièshào jǐ dào sùcài ma?

Can you recommend any vegetarian dishes?

Tatoeba

你能帮我介一名律师吗?

Nǐ néng bāng wǒ jièshào yī míng lǜshī ma?

Could you introduce me to a lawyer?

Tatoeba

你能简短地介一下你自己吗?

Nǐ néng jiǎnduǎn de jièshào yīxià nǐ zìjǐ ma?

Could you give us a brief introduction of yourself?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shào

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 绍 (shào) mean in Chinese?
绍 (shào) primarily means "to continue." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1228 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 绍 and 超?
绍 (shào) and 超 (chāo) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 纟 vs 走 (same 召 component).
How many strokes does 绍 have?
绍 is written with 8 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 绍?
The radical associated with 绍 is 纟 (silk). This radical appears in many characters related to silk.
What are the components of 绍?
绍 is composed of: 纟 (semantic), 召 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰纟召 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 绍?
Common words with 绍 include: 介绍 (jiè shào, "to introduce (sb to sb)"); 比绍 (bǐ shào, "Bissau, capital of Guinea-Bissau"); 介绍信 (jiè shào xìn, "letter of introduction"); 几内亚比绍 (jǐ nèi yà bǐ shào, "Guinea-Bissau"); 自我介绍 (zì wǒ jiè shào, "self-introduction"). There are over 17 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 绍 (shào)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shào: 捎 (to bring sth to sb), 烧 (to burn, to cook), 梢 (tip of branch), 稍 (somewhat), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 绍 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 绍 and the traditional form is 紹.

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.