士 (shì): member of the senior ministerial class (old), scholar (old), bachelor

士 (shì) is a Chinese character meaning “member of the senior ministerial class (old).” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical 士 (scholar). It ranks #372 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation
HSK 1Radical: 士 scholar3 strokesFrequency #372

Definitions

  1. member of the senior ministerial class (old)
  2. scholar (old)
  3. bachelor

Stroke Order

1
2
3

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 士

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
女士nounnǚ shìlady1
博士nounbó shìdoctor (as an academic degree)4
士兵nounshì bīngsoldier6
护士nounhù shinurse4
人士nounrén shìperson6
男士nounnán shìman4
硕士nounshuò shìmaster's degree4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
爵士nounjué shìknight
骑士nounqí shìknight
战士nounzhàn shìfighter
威士忌nounwēi shì jìwhiskey (loanword)
绅士nounshēn shìgentleman
波士顿proper-nounbō shì dùnBoston, capital of Massachusetts
武士nounwǔ shìwarrior
巴士nounbā shìbus (loanword)
勇士nounyǒng shìa warrior
瑞士proper-nounruì shìSwitzerland
军士nounjūn shìsoldier
莎士比亚shā shì bǐ yàShakespeare (name)
下士nounxià shìlowest-ranked noncommissioned officer (e.g. corporal in the army or petty officer, third class in the navy)
芝士nounzhī shì(loanword) cheese
斗士noundòu shìwarrior
103
Total compounds
11
As first character
76
As last character
14
As middle character

士 appears in 103 compound words: 11 as the first character, 76 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 士 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

博bó
0.636157,532 co-occurrences
硕shuò
0.56934,539 co-occurrences
巴bā
0.533190,295 co-occurrences
爵jué
0.50842,827 co-occurrences
富fù
0.49746,204 co-occurrences
瑞ruì
0.48148,298 co-occurrences
骑qí
0.48019,464 co-occurrences
绅shēn
0.4783,286 co-occurrences
兵bīng
0.478104,134 co-occurrences
勇yǒng
0.47421,355 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (16)

巴士海峡Bāshì HǎixiáHSK 7+

Bashi Channel

博士买驴bóshìmǎilǘ

long-winded, vague and never getting to the point

phrase
各界人士gèjiè rénshìHSK 4+

people from all walks of life

noun
敬贤礼士jìngxiánlǐshìHSK 7+

to respect people of talent and ability (said of a superior)

phrase
爵士音乐juéshì yīnyuèHSK 7+

jazz

noun
礼贤下士lǐxiánxiàshìHSK 7+

to treat people of talent and virtue with courtesy and respect

phrase
女士优先nǚshì yōuxiānHSK 4+

ladies first

phrase
仁人志士rénrénzhìshìHSK 7+

people with lofty ideas

phrase
身先士卒shēnxiānshìzúHSK 7+

to be situated in front of all soldiers and attack the enemy as the general; to take the lead as the leader

phrase
士多啤梨shìduōpílíHSK 5+

strawberry

noun
泰晤士报Tàiwùshì BàoHSK 7+

The Times, a British newspaper based in London

泰晤士河Tàiwùshì HéHSK 7+

Thames (a river in southeast England in the United Kingdom, flowing through London)

Showing 12 of 16 idioms containing 士.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

士字由3笔画组成,结构很巧妙。

shì zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .

The character "士" consists of three strokes and has a very ingenious structure.

Hk01.comFeb 2026

阿曼:美伊26日再次瑞士谈判 伊朗外长:核问题仍可能外交解决

ā 曼 : měi yī 2 6 rì zài cì ruì shì tán pàn yī lǎng wài cháng : hé wèn tí réng kě néng wài jiāo jiě jué

Oman: The United States and Iran held talks again in Switzerland on the 26th Iranian Foreign Minister: The nuclear issue may still be resolved diplomatically

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

弗吉尼亚州里士满发生枪击事件 两人死亡

弗 jí ní yà zhōu lǐ shì mǎn fā shēng qiāng jī shì jiàn liǎng rén sǐ wáng

Two people were killed in a shooting in Richmond, Virginia

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

美关税新变局 涉外人士:审慎应对301条款调查

měi guān shuì xīn biàn jú shè wài rén shì : shěn shèn yīng duì 3 0 1 tiáo kuǎn diào chá

New changes in U.S. tariffs Foreign-related people: Prudently respond to Section 301 investigations

三立新聞網Feb 2026

中国观光巴士坠湖酿8死 旅团业者未注册

zhōng guó guàn guāng bā shì zhuì hú niàng 8 sǐ lǚ tuán yè zhě wèi zhù cè

China's sightseeing bus fell into the lake and caused 8 deaths, and the tour operator was not registered

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

(新春走基层)助产士守护第一批“小马驹”:我在新年迎新生

( xīn chūn zǒu jī céng ) zhù chǎn shì shǒu hù dì yī pī xiǎo mǎ 驹 : wǒ zài xīn nián yíng xīn shēng

Midwives guard the first batch of "little foals": I welcome new students in the New Year

Tatoeba

汤姆住在波士顿吗?

Tāngmǔ zhù zài Bōshìdùn ma?

Is Tom living in Boston?

Tatoeba

汤姆还喜欢爵士乐吗?

Tāngmǔ hái xǐhuan juéshìyuè ma?

Does Tom still like jazz?

Tatoeba

这种威士忌太烈了。

Zhèzhǒng wēishìjì tài liè le.

This whisky is too strong.

Tatoeba

船开过苏伊士运河。

Chuán kāi guo Sūyīshì Yùnhé.

The ship sailed through the Suez Canal.

Character Family

士 Radical Family — Characters sharing the scholar radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced shì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 士 (shì) mean in Chinese?
士 (shì) primarily means "member of the senior ministerial class (old)." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #372 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 士 have?
士 is written with 3 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 士?
The radical associated with 士 is 士 (scholar). This radical appears in many characters related to scholar.
What are common words containing 士?
Common words with 士 include: 女士 (nǚ shì, "lady"); 博士 (bó shì, "doctor (as an academic degree)"); 士兵 (shì bīng, "soldier"); 护士 (hù shi, "nurse"); 爵士 (jué shì, "knight"). There are over 103 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 士 (shì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shì: 是 (is, yes), 时 (time, hour), 事 (matter), 实 (real, practical), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 士 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 士 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 士 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.