射 (shè): to shoot, to launch, to allude to

射 (shè) is a Chinese character meaning “to shoot.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 身 (structural) and 寸 (structural). It ranks #703 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, 射 a bow 身 being drawn by a hand 寸. Its radical form 寸 (inch) appears in many related characters such as 对 (duì, right), 封 (fēng, to confer), 导 (dǎo, to transmit).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to shoot
  2. to launch
  3. to allude to

Etymology & Origin

射

pictographicA bow 身 being drawn by a hand 寸

Decomposition: ⿰身寸 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 射

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
射击verbshè jīto shoot6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
注射verbzhù shèinjection
发射verbfā shèto shoot (a projectile)
辐射verbfú shèto radiate
射线nounshè xiànray
射门verbshè mén(soccer, handball etc) to kick or shoot the ball towards the goal
发射器fā shè qìradio transmitter
反射verbfǎn shèto reflect
放射verbfàng shèto radiate
放射性adjectivefàng shè xìngradioactive
注射器nounzhù shè qìsyringe
射程nounshè chéngrange
喷射verbpēn shèto spurt
射手nounshè shǒuarcher
照射verbzhào shèto shine on
扫射verbsǎo shèto rake with machine gunfire
100
Total compounds
19
As first character
49
As last character
32
As middle character

射 appears in 100 compound words: 19 as the first character, 49 as the last, and 32 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 射 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

辐fú
0.69616,059 co-occurrences
箭jiàn
0.55117,492 co-occurrences
仆pú
0.5514,828 co-occurrences
发fā
0.52669,500 co-occurrences
溅jiàn
0.488634 co-occurrences
击jī
0.48519,306 co-occurrences
炮pào
0.47310,706 co-occurrences
弹dàn
0.4698,861 co-occurrences
映yìng
0.45613,178 co-occurrences
器qì
0.44320,422 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

含沙射影hánshāshèyǐngHSK 6+

to attack or slander by insinuation

phrase
肌肉注射jīròu zhùshèHSK 6+

intramuscular injection

noun
静脉注射jìngmài zhùshèHSK 7+

to inject intravenously

verb
皮下注射pí xià zhù shèHSK 6+

hypodermic injection; subcutaneous injection

phrase
条件反射tiáo jiàn fǎn shèHSK 6+

conditioned reflex

phrase
衍射格子yǎn shè gé ziHSK 7+

diffraction grating (physics)

phrase
宇宙射线yǔzhòu shèxiànHSK 7+

cosmic ray

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们射字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men shè zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "射."

中時新聞網Feb 2026

美成功测试增程型导引火箭弹 射程达150公里精确打击

měi chéng gōng cè shì zēng chéng xíng dǎo yǐn huǒ jiàn dàn shè chéng dá 1 5 0 gōng lǐ jīng què dǎ jī

The United States successfully tested an extended-range guided rocket with a range of 150 kilometers for precision strikes

Fx168 Finance NetworkFeb 2026

...亿美元的AI芯片,马斯克设想从月球电磁弹射AI卫星-FX168

. . . yì měi yuán de A I xīn piàn , mǎ sī kè shè xiǎng cóng yuè qiú diàn cí dàn shè A I wèi xīng F X 1 6 8

... A billion-dollar AI chip, Musk envisions launching an AI satellite from the moon electromagnetic catapult - FX168

99 健康网Feb 2026

...便后甩一甩是本能行为吗?婴儿期就有类似反射吗

. . . biàn hòu shuǎi yī shuǎi shì běn néng háng wéi ma ? yīng ér qī jiù yǒu lèi sì fǎn shè ma

... Is it an instinctive act to shake it up? Is there a similar reflex in infancy?

東森新聞Feb 2026

输不起?客怨飞镖全射中 老板才喊不能混色

shū bù qǐ ? kè yuàn fēi 镖 quán shè zhōng lǎo bǎn cái hǎn bù néng hùn sè

Can't afford to lose? The guest complained that the darts were all shot, and the boss shouted that he couldn't mix colors

三立新聞網Feb 2026

为了飞更远?冬奥跳台滑雪爆阴茎注射歪风

wéi le fēi gēng yuǎn ? dōng ào tiào tái huá xuě bào yīn jīng zhù shè wāi fēng

To fly further? Winter Olympics ski jumping exploded penis injection crooked

Tatoeba

佐藤先生在周末练习射箭。

Zuǒténg xiānsheng zài zhōumò liànxí shèjiàn.

Mr. Sato practices archery on weekends.

Tatoeba

俄罗斯去年发射了一个卫星。

éluósī qùnián fāshè le yī gè wèixīng.

A satellite was launched in Russia last year.

Tatoeba

汤姆拿枪射自己的头。

Tāngmǔ ná qiāng shè zìjǐ de tóu.

Tom shot himself in the head.

Tatoeba

你想射杀汤姆吗?

Nǐ xiǎng shèshā Tāngmǔ ma?

Did you mean to shoot Tom?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shè

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 射 (shè) mean in Chinese?
射 (shè) primarily means "to shoot." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #703 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 射 have?
射 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 射?
The radical associated with 射 is 寸 (inch). This radical appears in many characters related to inch.
What are the components of 射?
射 is composed of: 身 (structural), 寸 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰身寸 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 射?
Common words with 射 include: 注射 (zhù shè, "injection"); 发射 (fā shè, "to shoot (a projectile)"); 射击 (shè jī, "to shoot"); 辐射 (fú shè, "to radiate"); 射线 (shè xiàn, "ray"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 射 (shè)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shè: 设 (to set up, to design), 社 ((bound form) society), 涉 ((literary) to wade across a body of water), 摄 ((bound form) to take in), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 射 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 射 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 射 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.