(shěng): province, to save

(shěng) is a Chinese character meaning “province, to save.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #666 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, division. Its radical form (eye) appears in many related characters such as (kàn, to look, to see), (zhēn, really), (zhe, -ing, to wear).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. province, to save

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticdivision

Decomposition: ⿱少目 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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
verbjié shěngsaving5
nounshěng fènprovince5
nounshěng huìprovincial capital5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
fǎn xǐngto reflect upon oneself
bù xǐng rén shìto lose consciousness
shěng qiánto save money
shěng lüèto leave out
shěng shìto simplify matters
shěng qùto omit
shěng deto avoid
shěng xīnto cause no trouble
fā rén shēn xǐngto provide food for thought (idiom)
shěng lüè hào(punctuation) ellipsis
zì xǐngto examine oneself
shěng lìto save labor
shěng zhǎnggovernor of a province
nèi xǐngto reflect upon oneself
quán shěngthe whole province
100
Total compounds
36
As first character
59
As last character
5
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 36 as the first character, 59 as the last, and 5 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.

0.71820 co-occurrences
fèn
0.625431,732 co-occurrences
zhè
0.590103,056 co-occurrences
jiāng
0.587310,740 co-occurrences
tián
0.56420 co-occurrences
gāi
0.554274,248 co-occurrences
huī
0.55273,830 co-occurrences
0.54335,028 co-occurrences
liáo
0.54045,954 co-occurrences
0.538151,242 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

bùxǐngrénshìHSK 4+

to lose consciousness; to be unconscious

phrase
chén hūn dìng xǐngHSK 7+

morning and evening visits to parents; cf 昏定晨省[hun1 ding4 chen2 xing3]

phrase
fārénshēnxǐngHSK 4+

to set people thinking; to call for deep thought

phrase
hūn dìng chén xǐngHSK 7+

seeing to bed in the evening and visiting in the morning (ancient filial duty)

phrase
shěng chī jiǎn yòngHSK 7+

to live frugally

phrase
shěngyóu de dēngHSK 4+

person who is easy to deal with; person who does not stir up trouble

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个项目可以节很多成本,值得推广。

Zhè gè xiàngmù kěyǐ jiéshěng hěn duō chéngběn, zhíde tuīguǎng.

This project can save a lot of costs and is worth promoting.

Vietnam+Feb 2026

消除“黄牌”警告:广宁提前完成渔船捕捞许可发放工作

xiāo chú huáng pái jǐng gào : guǎng nìng shěng tí qián wán chéng yú chuán bǔ lāo xǔ kě fā fàng gōng zuò

Eliminate "yellow card" warning: Quang Ninh province has completed the issuance of fishing vessel fishing licenses ahead of schedule

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

悉尼中国文化中心2026新春招待会暨部合作启动仪式举行

xī ní zhōng guó wén huà zhōng xīn 2 0 2 6 xīn chūn zhāo dài huì jì bù shěng gě zuò qǐ dòng yí shì jǔ háng

The 2026 Chinese Year Reception of the Chinese Cultural Center in Sydney and the launching ceremony of ministerial and provincial cooperation were held

百度新闻Feb 2026

忻州市房地产市场多项指标居全首位

忻 zhōu shì fáng dì chǎn shì chǎng duō xiàng zhǐ biāo jū quán shěng shǒu wèi

Xinzhou real estate market tops the province in a number of indicators

百度新闻Feb 2026

一卷春风三地书 2026福建春节联欢晚会绘万里风..

yī juǎn chūn fēng sān dì shū fú jiàn shěng chūn jié lián huān wǎn huì huì mò lǐ fēng . .

A Spring Breeze Sweeps Across Three Regions 2026 Fujian Spring Festival Gala: Painting a Ten-Thousand-Mile Landscape...

百度新闻Feb 2026

浙江政府批复同意!宁波一大学将设新学院

zhè jiāng shěng zhèng fǔ pī fù tóng yì ! nìng bō yī dà xué jiāng shè xīn xué yuàn

Zhejiang Provincial Government Approves! A New College to Be Established at a University in Ningbo

Tatoeba

他被人发现倒在厨房的地板上,不人事。

Tā bèi rén fāxiàn dǎo zài chúfáng de dìbǎn shàng, bùxǐngrénshì.

He was found lying unconscious on the kitchen floor.

Tatoeba

那条桥为我们节了不少时间。

Nà tiáo qiáo wèi wǒmen jiéshěng le bù shǎo shíjiān.

The bridge saved us a lot of time.

Tatoeba

我今天晚点下班,得明天早上手忙脚乱。

Wǒ jīntiān wǎndiǎn xiàbān, shěngde míngtiān zǎoshang shǒumángjiǎoluàn.

Today I'm working a little late so as to avoid a rush in the morning.

Tatoeba

你乘公车去的话,可以掉三分之二的时间。

Nǐ chéng gōngchē qù dehuà, kěyǐ shěng diào sānfēn zhī èr de shíjiān.

If you go by bus, you can get there in about one-third of the time.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shěng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 省 (shěng) mean in Chinese?
省 (shěng) primarily means "province, to save." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #666 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 省 and 炒?
省 (shěng) and 炒 (chǎo) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 目 vs 火 (same 少 component).
How many strokes does 省 have?
省 is written with 9 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 省?
The radical associated with 省 is 目 (eye). This radical appears in many characters related to eye.
What are the components of 省?
省 is composed of: 少 (phonetic), 目 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱少目 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 省?
Common words with 省 include: 节省 (jié shěng, "saving"); 反省 (fǎn xǐng, "to reflect upon oneself"); 不省人事 (bù xǐng rén shì, "to lose consciousness"); 省钱 (shěng qián, "to save money"); 省略 (shěng lüè, "to leave out"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 省 (shěng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shěng: 升 (to ascend), 生 (to be born). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 省 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 省 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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.