谁 (shéi): who

谁 (shéi) is a Chinese character meaning “who.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 讠 (semantic) and 隹 (phonetic). It ranks #648 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 谁 speech. Its radical form 讠 (speech) appears in many related characters such as 认 (rèn, to recognize, to admit), 记 (jì, to remember, to record), 识 (shí, to know, knowledge).

Spoken pronunciation

HSK 1 Radical: 讠 speech10 strokesFrequency #648讠 semantic 隹 phonetic

Definitions

Etymology & Origin

谁

pictophoneticspeech

Decomposition: ⿰讠隹 (layout: left-right)

Components:讠semantic 隹phonetic

Stroke Order

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
谁知	shéi zhī	who would have thought
鹿死谁手phrase	lù sǐ shéi shǒu	lit. at whose hand will the deer die (idiom)
谁料	shéi liào	who would have thought that
人谁无过	rén shéi wú guò	Everyone makes mistakes (idiom)
没谁了	méi séi le	(coll.) nobody can beat that
谁知道phrase	shéi zhī dào	God knows...
谁人乐队	shéi rén yuè duì	The Who (1960s UK rock band)
谁笑在最后，谁笑得最好	shéi xiào zài zuì hòu , shéi xiào dé zuì hǎo	He laughs best who laughs last.
谁笑到最后，谁笑得最好	shéi xiào dào zuì hòu , shéi xiào dé zuì hǎo	He laughs best who laughs last.
花落谁家	huā luò shéi jiā	who will be the winner?
爱谁谁phrase	ài shéi shéi	(coll.) whatever
谁怕谁	shéi pà shéi	bring it on!
阿谁pronoun	ā shuí	who

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

谁 appears in 13 compound words: 54 as the first character, 8 as the last, and 38 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 谁 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

敢gǎn

0.439386 co-occurrences

竟jìng

0.424256 co-occurrences

猜cāi

0.384118 co-occurrences

凶xiōng

0.38198 co-occurrences

我wǒ

0.3761,082 co-occurrences

知zhī

0.3671,064 co-occurrences

你nǐ

0.361504 co-occurrences

呢ne

0.360133 co-occurrences

说shuō

0.360608 co-occurrences

是shì

0.3604,790 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

鹿死谁手lùsǐshéishǒuHSK 7+

who will win the prize; who will gain supremacy; who will emerge as the victor

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请问是谁打来的电话？我有事找他。

Qǐngwèn shì shéi dǎ lái de diànhuà? Wǒ yǒu shì zhǎo tā.

Excuse me, who is calling? I need to speak with him.

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

日本品牌让出主导权谁将成为电视业新霸主?

rì běn pǐn pái ràng chū zhǔ dǎo quán shéi jiāng chéng wéi diàn shì yè xīn bà zhǔ ?

Japanese brands give up dominance Who will become the new hegemon of the TV industry?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

这谁要啦?马年刮刮乐送“小强标本”引热议台...

zhè shéi yāo lā ? mǎ nián guā guā lè sòng xiǎo qiáng biāo běn yǐn rè yì tái . . .

Who wants this? The Year of the Horse scratch card sent "Xiaoqiang specimen" to arouse heated discussions...

EttodayFeb 2026

“厂商是谁”答不出来坚持要汇40万万华警打醒诈骗...

hǎn shāng shì shéi dā bù chū lái jiān chí yāo huì 4 0 wàn wàn huá jǐng dǎ xǐng zhà piàn . . .

"Who is the manufacturer" can't answer and insists on remitting 400,000 yuan, Wanhua police wake up fraud...

百度新闻Feb 2026

“我们是谁”:拼写争议背后的加拿大国族认同迷思

wǒ men shì shéi pīn xiě zhēng yì bēi hòu de jiā ná dà guó zú rèn tóng mí sī

"Who We Are": The Myth of Canadian National Identity Behind the Spelling Controversy

百度新闻Feb 2026

谁被虹口新春美到了?中外游客:超出片,太震...

shéi bèi hóng kǒu xīn chūn měi dào le ? zhōng wài yóu kè chāo chū piān , tài zhèn . . .

Who's been impressed by the beauty of Hongkou's New Year? Chinese and foreign tourists: beyond the film, too shocking...

Tatoeba

那个穿棕色大衣的女人是谁？

Nèige chuān zōngsè dàyī de nǚrén shì shéi?

Who's the woman in the brown coat?

Tatoeba

是谁教她怎么说英语的？

Shì shéi jiāo tā zěnme shuō Yīngyǔ de?

Who taught her how to speak English?

Tatoeba

这辆自行车是谁的？

Zhè liàng zìxíngchē shì shéi de?

Whose bike is this?

Tatoeba

你的中文老师是谁？

Nǐ de Zhōngwén lǎoshī shì shéi?

Who is your Chinese teacher?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 讠 (speech) component

说shuō 认rèn 许xǔ 计jì 该gāi 让ràng 识shí 请qǐng 设shè 议yì

Related Characters

认rèn 记jì 识shí 诉sù 试shì 话huà 语yǔ 说shuō 请qǐng 读dú

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 谁 (shéi) mean in Chinese?

谁 (shéi) primarily means "who." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #648 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 谁 and 准?

谁 (shéi) and 准 (zhǔn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 讠 vs 冫 (same 隹 component).

How many strokes does 谁 have?

谁 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 谁?

The radical associated with 谁 is 讠 (speech). This radical appears in many characters related to speech.

What are the components of 谁?

谁 is composed of: 讠 (semantic), 隹 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰讠隹 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 谁?

Common words with 谁 include: 谁知 (shéi zhī, "who would have thought"); 鹿死谁手 (lù sǐ shéi shǒu, "lit. at whose hand will the deer die (idiom)"); 谁料 (shéi liào, "who would have thought that"); 人谁无过 (rén shéi wú guò, "Everyone makes mistakes (idiom)"); 没谁了 (méi séi le, "(coll.) nobody can beat that"). There are over 13 compound words containing this character.

Is 谁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

No. The simplified form is 谁 and the traditional form is 誰.

Practice writing 谁 with real-time feedback

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