(shǐ): feces, excrement, a stool

(shǐ) is a Chinese character meaning “feces.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #3027 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a person, crouched 尸 defecating 米; 米 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form (corpse) appears in many related characters such as (céng, to pile on top of one another), (, to reside), (zhǎn, to spread out).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. feces
  2. excrement
  3. a stool

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA person, crouched 尸 defecating 米; 米 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿸尸米 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

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

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
nouněr shǐearwax
nounyǎn shǐsleep (dried mucus in the corner of the eye)
adverbgǒu chī shǐto fall flat on one's face (vulgar)
nounshǐ ké làngsee 屎蚵螂
chī shǐ dōu gǎn bu shàng rè hu de(lit.) if you were eating warm shit, it'd be stone cold by the time you finished it (saying)
proverbgǒu gǎi bù liǎo chī shǐlit. a dog can't stop himself from eating shit (idiom)
尿yī bǎ shǐ yī bǎ niàoto have endured all sorts of hardships (to raise one's children) (idiom)
lā bù chū shǐ lái yuàn máo fánglit. to blame the toilet because one is having difficulty completing a bowel movement (idiom)
yī kē lǎo shǔ shǐ huài le yī guō tānglit. one pellet of rat feces spoiled the whole pot of soup (idiom)
niǎo bù lā shǐ(lit.) (a place where) birds don't defecate
yī kē lǎo shǔ shǐ huài le yī guō zhōusee 一粒老鼠屎壞了一鍋粥|一粒老鼠屎坏了一锅粥
yī lì lǎo shǔ shǐ huài le yī guō zhōulit. one pellet of rat feces spoiled the whole pot of congee (idiom)
nounshí shǐ sēn lín(dialect) concrete jungle
phrasezhàn zhe máo kēng bù lā shǐlit. to occupy a latrine but not shit (proverb)
qí bó zi lā shǐ(lit.) to take a dump while riding on sb's shoulders (saying)
32
Total compounds
9
As first character
47
As last character
44
As middle character

appears in 32 compound words: 9 as the first character, 47 as the last, and 44 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.

gǒu
0.525448 co-occurrences
尿niào
0.501190 co-occurrences
dàn
0.474360 co-occurrences
cǎi
0.46660 co-occurrences
0.432122 co-occurrences
0.43130 co-occurrences
0.43142 co-occurrences
niú
0.418250 co-occurrences
māo
0.41366 co-occurrences
shí
0.404590 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men shǐ zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character for "shit."

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

竟然能把一坨放在电影院里,大家都觉得这得去打卡一下,纪念一下。

jìng rán néng bǎ yī 坨 shǐ fàng zài diàn yǐng yuàn lǐ , dà jiā dōu jué dé zhè dé qù dǎ kǎ yī xià , jì niàn yī xià .

They actually put a pile of poop in a movie theater, and everyone felt like they had to go check it out and commemorate the moment.

爱范儿Jul 2026

同期上新的橙 C 凤梨冰柠茶使用鲜橙、菲律宾凤梨、鸭香茶底和香水柠檬。

tóng qī shàng xīn de chéng C fèng lí bīng 柠 chá shǐ yòng xiān chéng , Fēi lǜ bīn fèng lí , yā shǐ xiāng chá de hé xiāng shuǐ 柠 檬 .

The Orange C Pineapple Iced Lemon Tea, which was launched at the same time, features fresh oranges, Philippine pineapples, Yashi Xiang tea, and perfume lemons.

少数派Jul 2026

所有支撑结构在用了十二小时左右都需要摘出来清理一下挂在上面的粘液和鼻腔内积蓄的鼻

suǒ yǒu zhī chēng jié gòu zài yòng le shí èr xiǎo shí zuǒ yòu dōu xū yāo zhāi chū lái qīng lǐ yī xià guà zài shàng miàn de nián yè hé bí qiāng nèi jī xù de bí shǐ .

After about twelve hours of use, all support structures need to be removed to clean off the mucus and nasal discharge that has accumulated on them.

少数派Jul 2026

如果你在山里面傲游过,大概能理解我在说什么。

rú guǒ nǐ zài shǐ shān lǐ miàn ào yóu guò , dà gài néng lǐ jiě wǒ zài shuō shén má .

If you've ever swum through a mountain of shit, you'll probably know what I'm talking about.

Hk01.comFeb 2026

料未及!美国超级航母福特号厕所频故障 6...

shǐ liào wèi jí ! měi guó chāo jí háng mǔ fú tè hào cè suǒ pín gù zhàng 6 . . .

The is not enough! The US super aircraft carrier USS Ford has frequent toilet failures 6...

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 屎 (shǐ) mean in Chinese?
屎 (shǐ) primarily means "feces." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #3027 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 屎 have?
屎 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 屎?
The radical associated with 屎 is 尸 (corpse). This radical appears in many characters related to corpse.
What are the components of 屎?
屎 is composed of: 尸 (structural), 米 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸尸米 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 屎?
Common words with 屎 include: 耳屎 (ěr shǐ, "earwax"); 眼屎 (yǎn shǐ, "sleep (dried mucus in the corner of the eye)"); 狗吃屎 (gǒu chī shǐ, "to fall flat on one's face (vulgar)"); 屎壳郎 (shǐ ké làng, "see 屎蚵螂"); 吃屎都赶不上热乎的 (chī shǐ dōu gǎn bu shàng rè hu de, "(lit.) if you were eating warm shit, it'd be stone cold by the time you finished it (saying)"). There are over 32 compound words containing this character.
Is 屎 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 屎 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 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.