拭 (shì): to wipe

拭 (shì) is a Chinese character meaning “to wipe.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 式 (phonetic). It ranks #2792 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 拭 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 把 (bǎ, to hold, measure word).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to wipe

Etymology & Origin

拭

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿰扌式 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
拭目以待phraseshì mù yǐ dàilit. to wipe one's eyes and wait (idiom)
擦拭verbcā shìto wipe clean
拭子shì ziswab
拭目shì mùto wipe one's eyes
拭目倾耳shì mù qīng ěrto watch and listen attentively
拭除verbshì chúto wipe off
拂拭fú shìto wipe
揩拭kāi shìto wipe off
拭抹shì mǒto swab
9
Total compounds
67
As first character
33
As last character
0
As middle character

拭 appears in 9 compound words: 67 as the first character, 33 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

拭目倾耳shì mù qīng ěr

to watch and listen attentively

phrase
拭目以待shìmùyǐdài

to anticipate or wait for something to happen

phrase

Example Sentences

爱范儿Sep 2026

我希望能有更多任务,比如擦拭镜子、整理食物、做饭等等。

wǒ xī wàng néng yǒu gèng duō rèn wù , bǐ rú cā shì jìng zǐ , zhěng lǐ shí wù , zuò fàn děng děng .

I'd like to have more tasks, such as cleaning mirrors, organizing food, cooking, and so on.

中国新闻网·体育Sep 2026

一直在战斗的她还会带来怎样的惊喜,我们拭目以待。

yī zhí zài zhàn dǒu de tā hái huì dài lái zěn yàng de jīng xǐ , wǒ men shì mù yǐ dài .

We’ll have to wait and see what other surprises she has in store, given that she’s been fighting all along.

中国新闻网·生活Sep 2026

立即用温水和温和的肥皂清洗暴露的区域,并用毛巾擦拭以去除皮肤上的玻璃纤维。

lì jí yòng wēn shuǐ hé wēn hé de féi zào qīng xǐ bào lù de qū yù , bìng yòng máo jīn cā shì yǐ qù chú pí fū shàng de bō lí xiān wéi .

Immediately wash the exposed area with warm water and mild soap, then pat it dry with a towel to remove any glass fibers from the skin.

爱范儿Aug 2026

微信、领英们的试验会不会成功,我们大可以拭目以待。

wēi xìn , lǐng yīng men de shì yàn huì bù huì chéng gōng , wǒ men dà kě yǐ shì mù yǐ dài .

We can certainly wait and see whether the experiments by WeChat, LinkedIn, and others will succeed.

東森新聞Feb 2026

過年練唱「分手快樂」告別川伯? 蔣萬安:拭目以待

過 nián 練 chàng fēn shǒu kuài 樂 gào 別 chuān bó ? 蔣 萬 ān 拭 mù yǐ dài

Practicing "Happy Breakup" for the New Year to bid farewell to Uncle Chuan? Chiang Wan-an: We'll see.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 扌 (hand) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced shì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 拭 (shì) mean in Chinese?
拭 (shì) primarily means "to wipe." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #2792 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 拭 have?
拭 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 拭?
The radical associated with 拭 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 拭?
拭 is composed of: 扌 (semantic), 式 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌式 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 拭?
Common words with 拭 include: 拭目以待 (shì mù yǐ dài, "lit. to wipe one's eyes and wait (idiom)"); 擦拭 (cā shì, "to wipe clean"); 拭子 (shì zi, "swab"); 拭目 (shì mù, "to wipe one's eyes"); 拭目倾耳 (shì mù qīng ěr, "to watch and listen attentively"). There are over 9 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 拭 (shì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shì: 试 (to try, to test), 轼 ((literary) handrail at the front of a carriage or chariot). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 拭 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 拭 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 拭 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.