涉 (shè): (literary) to wade across a body of water, (bound form) to experience, to undergo

涉 (shè) is a Chinese character meaning “(literary) to wade across a body of water.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (structural) and 步 (structural). It ranks #1233 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 涉 to wade 步 through a stream 氵. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (literary) to wade across a body of water
  2. (bound form) to experience
  3. to undergo

Etymology & Origin

涉

ideographicTo wade 步 through a stream 氵

Decomposition: ⿰氵步 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 涉

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
涉及verbshè jíto involve6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
干涉verbgān shèto interfere
牵涉verbqiān shèto involve
涉嫌verbshè xiánto be a suspect (in a crime)
交涉verbjiāo shèto negotiate (with)
涉足verbshè zúto set foot in
长途跋涉phrasecháng tú bá shèlong and difficult trek
跋涉verbbá shèto trudge
涉案verbshè àn(of a perpetrator, victim, weapon, sum of money etc) to be involved in the case
涉险shè xiǎnto take risks
涉猎verbshè lièto skim (through a book)
跋山涉水phrasebá shān shè shuǐto travel over land and water (idiom)
涉外adjectiveshè wàiconcerning foreigners or foreign affairs
不干涉bù gān shènoninterference
涉世未深shè shì wèi shēnunpracticed
涉过verbshè guòto ford (a stream, river etc)
40
Total compounds
68
As first character
23
As last character
10
As middle character

涉 appears in 40 compound words: 68 as the first character, 23 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 涉 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

嫌xián
0.68043,261 co-occurrences
干gān
0.58017,192 co-occurrences
及jí
0.55873,088 co-occurrences
严yán
0.4835,324 co-occurrences
贿huì
0.4821,359 co-occurrences
钧jūn
0.46613 co-occurrences
案àn
0.46312,210 co-occurrences
渝yú
0.44713 co-occurrences
贪tān
0.446551 co-occurrences
潘pān
0.43913 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

爬山涉水pá shān shè shuǐHSK 6+

to climb mountains and wade rivers (idiom); fig. to make a long and difficult journey

phrase
跋山涉水báshānshèshuǐHSK 6+

to travel afar under difficult conditions; to travel over land and water

phrase
长途跋涉chángtúbáshèHSK 6+

to make a long trek; arduous journey

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

站在桥上望去,涉水缓缓向东流去。

zhàn zài qiáo shǎng wàng qù , shè shuǐ huǎn huǎn xiàng dōng liú qù .

Standing on the bridge, the water flows slowly eastward.

TvbsFeb 2026

张琼姿餐厅卷入高金素梅涉贪案 昔“车内密会潘若迪”险被离婚

zhāng 琼 zī cān tīng juǎn rù gāo jīn sù méi shè tān àn xī chē nèi mì huì pān ruò dí xiǎn bèi lí hūn

Zhang Qiongzi's restaurant was involved in Gao Jin Sumei's corruption case, and the former "secret meeting Pan Ruodi in the car" was almost divorced

Am730Feb 2026

中国籍男子涉为200人伪造日本居留证明被捕

zhōng guó jí nán zǐ shè wéi 2 0 0 rén wěi zào rì běn jū liú zhèng míng bèi bǔ

A Chinese man was arrested for forging Japanese residence certificates for 200 people

EttodayFeb 2026

NBA 史上最严厉处分?快艇涉嫌9亿元阴阳约 美记曝雷纳德合约恐作废

N B A shǐ shàng zuì yán lì chǔ fēn ? kuài tǐng shè xián 9 yì yuán yīn yáng yuē měi jì pù léi nà dé gě yuē kǒng zuò fèi

The toughest punishment in NBA history? The Clippers are suspected of a 900 million yuan yin-yang contract, and Meiji revealed that Leonard's contract may be invalidated

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

美关税新变局 涉外人士:审慎应对301条款调查

měi guān shuì xīn biàn jú shè wài rén shì : shěn shèn yīng duì 3 0 1 tiáo kuǎn diào chá

New changes in U.S. tariffs Foreign-related people: Prudently respond to Section 301 investigations

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Feb 2026

涉行贿800万换取贷款申请 反贪会捕前电讯...

shè háng huì 8 0 0 wàn huàn qǔ dài kuǎn shēn qǐng fǎn tān huì bǔ qián diàn xùn . . .

Involving bribery of 8 million yuan in exchange for loan applications Anti-Corruption Commission arrest pre-telecommunications...

Tatoeba

你得在涉谷换乘火车。

Nǐ děi zài Shègǔ huànchéng huǒchē.

You have to change trains at Shibuya.

Tatoeba

记者没有犹豫地去干涉了人们的私生活。

Jìzhě méiyǒu yóuyù de qù gānshè le rénmen de sīshēnghuó.

Reporters do not hesitate to intrude into people's privacy.

Tatoeba

天文学涉及恒星和行星的研究。

Tiānwénxué shèjí héngxīng hé xíngxīng de yánjiū.

Astronomy involves the study of stars and planets.

Tatoeba

我的父亲总是干涉我的私生活。

Wǒ de fùqīn zǒngshì gānshè wǒ de sīshēnghuó.

My father is always poking his nose into my private life.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shè

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 涉 (shè) mean in Chinese?
涉 (shè) primarily means "(literary) to wade across a body of water." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1233 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 涉 have?
涉 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 涉?
The radical associated with 涉 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 涉?
涉 is composed of: 氵 (structural), 步 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵步 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 涉?
Common words with 涉 include: 涉及 (shè jí, "to involve"); 干涉 (gān shè, "to interfere"); 牵涉 (qiān shè, "to involve"); 涉嫌 (shè xián, "to be a suspect (in a crime)"); 交涉 (jiāo shè, "to negotiate (with)"). There are over 40 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 涉 (shè)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shè: 设 (to set up, to design), 社 ((bound form) society), 射 (to shoot), 摄 ((bound form) to take in), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 涉 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 涉 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 涉 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.