(shí): real, practical

(shí) is a Chinese character meaning “real, practical.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #100 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. real, practical

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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
adverbquè shíindeed4
adverbqí shíactually3
nounshì shífact5
adjective/adverbshí zàireally4
adjectivezhēn shítrue5
noun/adjectivexiàn shíreality5
nounshí yàn shìlaboratory5
nounshí huàtruth6
adjectivelǎo shihonest6
verbshí xiànto achieve5
verb/nounshí yànexperiment5
verbzhèng shíto confirm (sth to be true)6
adjectivechéng shíhonest4
nounshí lìstrength5
verbshí shīto implement5
verbshí xíto practice5
adjectivejiē shíto bear fruit6
verbshí xíngto implement5
verbshí jiànpractice5
adjective/verbchōng shírich6
nounshí zhìsubstance6
adjectiveshí yòngto apply in practice5
adverbshí shí(in) real time6
nounguǒ shífruit (produced by a plant)5
adjectiveqiè shífeasible6
adjectivetā shifirmly-based6
noun/adjectiveshí huìtangible benefit6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
shí jìreality
shí qíngthe actual situation
hé shíto verify
shí tǐentity
shí dìon-site
rú shías things really are
shí kuànglive (e.g. broadcast or recording)
100
Total compounds
59
As first character
41
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 59 as the first character, 41 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

yàn
0.740288,295 co-occurrences
jiàn
0.67550,861 co-occurrences
0.673254,788 co-occurrences
xiàn
0.610327,570 co-occurrences
shī
0.571170,676 co-occurrences
0.54288,368 co-occurrences
shì
0.536132,174 co-occurrences
zhèng
0.53476,160 co-occurrences
0.48610 co-occurrences
zhēn
0.47882,722 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (28)

bì shí jī xūHSK 6+

see 避實就虛|避实就虚[bi4 shi2 jiu4 xu1]

phrase
bì shí jiù xūHSK 5+

(idiom) stay clear of the enemy's main force and strike at his weak points

phrase
bùqièshíjìHSK 4+

impractical; unrealistic; fanciful; impracticable

adjective
cóngshízhāoláiHSK 4+

to confess the truth; to tell the truth; to come clean

verb
è è shí shíHSK 6+

very fierce

phrase
fù zhū shí shīHSK 6+

to put into practice; to carry out (idiom)

phrase
hèqiāngshídànHSK 7+

to carry loaded guns; to be fully armed

phrase
huá'érbùshíHSK 5+

having a handsome exterior but hollow inside; flashy and without substance

phrase
jìchéng shìshíHSK 4+

established fact; accomplished fact; fait accompli

noun
jiǎotàshídìHSK 6+

to have one's feet on the ground; to be realistic and steady

phrase
míngbùfúshíHSK 4+

synonym of 名不副實 /名不副实 (míngbùfùshí, “the name falls short of the reality; to be unworthy of the name”)

phrase
míngcúnshíwángHSK 6+

to remain existing in name but no longer in reality; now nominal

phrase

Showing 12 of 28 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个方案很用,可以解决我们目前遇到的问题。

Zhè gè fāng'àn hěn shíyòng, kěyǐ jiějué wǒmen mùqián yù dào de wèntí.

This plan is very practical and can solve the problems we are currently facing.

LtnFeb 2026

阿曼证美伊2/26日内瓦再谈 传德黑兰愿就核计...

ā 曼 zhèng shí měi yī 2 2 6 rì nèi wǎ zài tán chuán dé hēi lán yuàn jiù hé jì . . .

Oman confirmed that the United States and Iran will talk again in Geneva on 2/26, and it is rumored that Tehran is willing to discuss the nuclear plan...

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

...加征关税至15% 回应最高院判决 另引例施150日

. . . jiā zhēng guān shuì zhì 1 5 huí yīng zuì gāo yuàn pàn jué lìng yǐn lì shí shī 1 5 0 rì

... Increase tariffs to 15% in response to the Supreme Court's judgment and implement another example for 150 days

百度新闻Feb 2026

美国12月际个人消费支出月率 0.1%,预期0.....

měi guó 1 2 yuè shí jì gè rén xiāo fèi zhī chū yuè lǜ 0 . 1 , yù qī 0 . . . . .

U.S. real personal consumption expenditures in December were 0.1% month-on-month, compared with 0..... expected

百度新闻Feb 2026

春节假期拍了拍你,出门揣一份“安心”更踏

chūn jié jiǎ qī pāi le pāi nǐ , chū mén chuāi yī fèn ān xīn gēng tà shí

Spring Festival vacation pat you, go out and put a "peace of mind" more solid

百度新闻Feb 2026

新华视点|福建:体书店变身“文化会客厅” 全民阅..

xīn huá shì diǎn fú jiàn shí tī shū diàn biàn shēn wén huā huì kè tīng quán mín yuè . .

Xinhua Insight | Fujian: Brick-and-Mortar Bookstores Transform into "Cultural Living Rooms," Promoting Reading Among All Citizens...

Tatoeba

你其有没有看过?

Nǐ qíshí yǒuméiyǒu kàn guo?

Did you read it at all?

Tatoeba

有没有这个字的?

Qíshí yǒuméiyǒu zhège zì de?

Is that even a word?

Tatoeba

黑海里的水事上是黑的吗?

Hēi Hǎi lǐ de shuǐ shìshíshàng shì hēi de ma?

Is the water in the Black Sea actually black?

Tatoeba

你相信他在说话吗?

Nǐ xiāngxìn tā zài shuōshíhuà ma?

Do you believe that he is telling the truth?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shí

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 实 (shí) mean in Chinese?
实 (shí) primarily means "real, practical." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #100 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 实 have?
实 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 实?
The radical associated with 实 is 宀 (roof). This radical appears in many characters related to roof.
What are the components of 实?
实 is composed of: 宀 (structural), 头 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱宀头 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 实?
Common words with 实 include: 确实 (què shí, "indeed"); 其实 (qí shí, "actually"); 事实 (shì shí, "fact"); 实在 (shí zài, "really"); 真实 (zhēn shí, "true"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 实 (shí)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shí: 师 (teacher), 十 (ten), 时 (time, hour), 识 (to know, knowledge), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 实 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 实 and the traditional form is 實.

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.