社 (shè): (bound form) society, organization, agency, (old) god of the land
社 (shè) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) society.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 礻 (structural) and 土 (structural). It ranks #270 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 社 an earth 土 spirit 礻; 礻 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 礻 (spirit) appears in many related characters such as 票 (piào, ticket), 视 (shì, (literary, or bound form) to look at), 示 (shì, to show).
Definitions
- (bound form) society
- organization
- agency
- (old) god of the land
Etymology & Origin
ideographicAn earth 土 spirit 礻; 礻 also provides the pronunciation
Decomposition: ⿰礻土 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 社
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 社会noun | shè huì | society | 4 |
| 社区noun | shè qū | community | 5 |
| 报社noun | bào shè | newspaper (i.e. a company) | 6 |
| 旅行社noun | lǚ xíng shè | travel agency | 5 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 社交 | shè jiāo | interaction |
| 黑社会 | hēi shè huì | criminal underworld |
| 社团 | shè tuán | association |
| 社长 | shè zhǎng | president or director (of association etc) |
| 杂志社 | zá zhì shè | magazine publisher |
| 出版社 | chū bǎn shè | publishing house |
| 社保 | shè bǎo | social insurance (abbr. for 社會保險|社会保险[she4 hui4 bao3 xian3]) |
| 社会学 | shè huì xué | sociology |
| 社会保险 | shè huì bǎo xiǎn | social security (abbr. to 社保[she4 bao3]) |
| 社论 | shè lùn | editorial (in a newspaper) |
| 旅社 | lǚ shè | hotel |
| 公社 | gōng shè | commune |
| 社会关系 | shè huì guān xì | social relation |
| 美联社 | měi lián shè | Associated Press (AP) |
| 通讯社 | tōng xùn shè | a news service (e.g. Xinhua) |
社 appears in 100 compound words: 45 as the first character, 41 as the last, and 14 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 社 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (12)
Showing 9 of 12 idioms containing 社.
Example Sentences
社区组织了一次义务清洁活动，很多居民都参加了。
Shèqū zǔzhī le yī cì yìwù qīngjié huódòng, hěn duō jūmín dōu cānjiā le.
The community organized a volunteer cleaning activity, and many residents participated.
从球场到社区 三哥力撑学界足球精英梦
cóng qiú chǎng dào shè qū sān gē lì chēng xué jiè zú qiú jīng yīng mèng
From the stadium to the community, the third brother supports the dream of school football elites
经济日报社论/台美对等贸易协定的误判与修正
jīng jì rì bào shè lùn tái měi duì děng mào yì xié dìng de wù pàn yǔ xiū zhèng
Economic Daily Editorial/Misjudgment and Amendment of the Taiwan-US Reciprocal Trade Agreement
外卖骑手黄晓琴:做骑手与社会连接的纽带|在春天许一..
wài mài qí shǒu huáng xiǎo qín : zuò qí shǒu yǔ shè huì lián jiē de niǔ dài zài chūn tiān xǔ yī . .
Takeaway rider Huang Xiaoqin: Be the link between riders and society|In the spring, Xu Yi:
大年初一全社会跨区域人员流动量超2.1亿人次 全国....
dà nián chū yī quán shè huì kuà ōu yù rén yuán liú dòng liáng chāo . yì rén cì quán guó . . . .
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the volume of inter-regional people movement in the whole society exceeded 210 million people nationwide ....
7500人闹社火、品尝汉代美食,一起解锁新年最潮打..
rén nào shè huǒ pǐn cháng hàn dài měi shí , yī qǐ xiè suǒ xīn nián zuì cháo dǎ . .
7,500 people celebrate with traditional folk performances and sample Han Dynasty cuisine, unlocking the trendiest New Year activities together.
旅行社的利润猛涨。
Lǚxíngshè de lìrùn měngzhàng.
Travel agencies' profits soared.
他觉得被社会遗弃了。
Tā juéde bèi shèhuì yíqì le.
He felt alienated from society.
佐藤是社长的新秘书。
Zuǒténg shì shèzhǎng de xīn mìshū.
Sato is the new secretary of the company president.
德国在1880年代采取了一种社会保障制度。
Déguó zài 1880 niándài cǎiqǔ le yīzhǒng shèhuìbǎozhàng zhìdù.
Germany adopted a social security system in the 1880's.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is 社 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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