侍 (shì): to serve, to attend upon

侍 (shì) is a Chinese character meaning “to serve.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亻 (semantic) and 寺 (phonetic). It ranks #1852 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 侍 person. Its radical form 亻 (person) appears in many related characters such as 人 (rén, person), 什 (shén, what), 今 (jīn, now).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to serve
  2. to attend upon

Etymology & Origin

侍

pictophoneticperson

Decomposition: ⿰亻寺 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
侍者nounshì zhěattendant
服侍verbfú shito attend to
侍应verbshì yìngwaiter
侍应生nounshì yìng shēngwaiter
侍女nounshì nǚmaid
侍卫nounshì wèiImperial bodyguard
侍从nounshì cóngto serve (an important personage)
侍奉verbshì fèngto wait upon
侍候verbshì hòuto serve
侍郎nounshì láng(Ming and Qing dynasties) vice-minister of one of the Six Boards
十常侍nounshí cháng shìTen Permanent Functionaries at the end of Han, a byword for corruption
侍从官shì cóng guānaide-de-camp
侍卫官shì wèi guānguard
侍立verbshì lìto stand by in attendance
侍弄verbshì nòngto look after
20
Total compounds
70
As first character
30
As last character
0
As middle character

侍 appears in 20 compound words: 70 as the first character, 30 as the last, and 0 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 侍 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

郎láng
0.69340,302 co-occurrences
慈cí
0.5697,742 co-occurrences
骑qí
0.5465,518 co-occurrences
散sàn
0.53410,180 co-occurrences
右yòu
0.53012,688 co-occurrences
吏lì
0.5233,954 co-occurrences
奉fèng
0.4955,830 co-occurrences
左zuǒ
0.4889,052 co-occurrences
氏shì
0.4778,828 co-occurrences
御yù
0.4714,580 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这位老侍虽然年过八旬,但身体依然硬朗。

zhè wèi lǎo shì suī rán nián guò bā xún , dàn shēn tī yī rán yìng lǎng .

Though over eighty years old, this old servant remains in robust health.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

其间融入原创宋代彩塑舞蹈,舞者水袖翩跹,再现圣母殿内侍女塑像仪态。

qí jiān róng rù yuán chuàng sòng dài cǎi sù wǔ dǎo , wǔ zhě shuǐ xiù 翩 跹 , zài xiàn shèng mǔ diàn nèi shì nǚ sù xiàng yí tài .

The performance incorporates an original dance inspired by Song Dynasty colored clay sculptures, with dancers’ flowing sleeves gracefully fluttering as they recreate the poise of the court ladies depicted in the statues within the Hall of the Holy Mother.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

而在吕洞宾坐像两侧,二书童分侍,一位捧签,一位负剑。

ér zài lǚ dòng bīn zuò xiàng liǎng cè , èr shū tóng fēn shì , yī wèi pěng qiān , yī wèi fù jiàn .

On either side of the seated statue of Lü Dongbin, two young attendants stand in attendance—one holding a slip of paper, the other carrying a sword.

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

太平天国侍王府里藏着怎样的制墙秘方?

tài píng tiān guó shì wáng fǔ lǐ zàng zhe zěn yàng de zhì qiáng mì fāng ?

What secret formula for building walls was hidden in the residence of a Taiping Heavenly Kingdom prince?

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

...28.HK)下月起延长产假至90天 男士侍产假增至7天

. . . 2 8 . H K ) xià yuè qǐ yán cháng chǎn jiǎ zhì 9 0 tiān nán shì shì chǎn jiǎ zēng zhì 7 tiān

... 28.HK) Maternity leave will be extended to 90 days from next month, and paternity leave for men will be increased to 7 days

Hk01.comFeb 2026

输入外劳前须本地实地招聘初级厨师及侍应 1500空缺仅9人受聘

shū rù wài láo qián xū běn dì shí dì zhāo pìn chū jí chú shī jí shì yīng 1 5 0 0 kōng quē jǐn 9 rén shòu pìn

Before importing foreign workers, local on-site recruitment of junior chefs and waiters 1500 vacancies only 9 people will be employed

Tatoeba

在你侍酒前最好先将白葡萄酒冷却一下。

Zài nǐ shì jiǔ qián zuì hǎo xiān jiāng bái pútaojiǔ lěngquè yīxià.

It's better to chill white wine before you serve it.

Tatoeba

没有人可以共侍二主。

Méiyǒurén kěyǐ gòng shì èr zhǔ.

No man can serve two masters.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 亻 (person) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced shì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 侍 (shì) mean in Chinese?
侍 (shì) primarily means "to serve." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1852 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 侍 and 特?
侍 (shì) and 特 (tè) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 亻 vs 牛 (same 寺 component).
How many strokes does 侍 have?
侍 is written with 8 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 侍?
The radical associated with 侍 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.
What are the components of 侍?
侍 is composed of: 亻 (semantic), 寺 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻寺 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 侍?
Common words with 侍 include: 侍者 (shì zhě, "attendant"); 服侍 (fú shi, "to attend to"); 侍应 (shì yìng, "waiter"); 侍应生 (shì yìng shēng, "waiter"); 侍女 (shì nǚ, "maid"). There are over 20 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 侍 (shì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shì: 是 (is, yes), 时 (time, hour), 事 (matter), 实 (real, practical), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 侍 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 侍 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 侍 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.