柿 (shì): persimmon

柿 (shì) is a Chinese character meaning “persimmon.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 市 (phonetic). It ranks #2888 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 柿 tree. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. persimmon

Etymology & Origin

柿

pictophonetictree

Decomposition: ⿰木市 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 柿

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
西红柿nounxī hóng shìtomato4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
柿子nounshì zipersimmon
柿子椒nounshì zi jiāobell pepper, aka sweet pepper
柿子挑软的捏shì zi tiāo ruǎn de niēlit. it's the soft persimmons that people choose to squeeze (idiom)
洋柿子yáng shì zi(dialect) tomato
软柿子nounruǎn shì zi(coll.) pushover
柿饼nounshì bǐngdried persimmon
7
Total compounds
57
As first character
14
As last character
29
As middle character

柿 appears in 7 compound words: 57 as the first character, 14 as the last, and 29 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 柿 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

崎qí
0.484618 co-occurrences
沼zhǎo
0.463204 co-occurrences
芽yá
0.450126 co-occurrences
饼bǐng
0.43364 co-occurrences
葱cōng
0.43013 co-occurrences
涩sè
0.41720 co-occurrences
红hóng
0.389300 co-occurrences
炒chǎo
0.38819 co-occurrences
砂shā
0.37272 co-occurrences
椒jiāo
0.36130 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

工人们正在砍伐病柿,防止虫害蔓延。

gōng rén men zhēng zài kǎn fá bìng shì , fáng zhǐ chóng hài mán yán .

Workers are cutting down diseased persimmon trees to prevent the spread of pests.

中国新闻网·文化Oct 2026

如一家甜水铺门头,就还原了鲁迅难抵口腹之欲、深夜起身吃柿霜糖的故事。

rú yī jiā tián shuǐ pù mén tóu , jiù hái yuán le lǔ xùn nán dǐ kǒu fù zhī yù , shēn yè qǐ shēn chī shì shuāng táng de gù shì .

For example, the sign outside a candy shop depicts the story of Lu Xun, who, unable to resist his appetite, got up in the middle of the night to eat persimmon-frost candy.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

等到10月,这个“丹柿小院”将满树丹红,成为京城秋季热门打卡点。

děng dào 1 0 yuè , zhè gè dān shì xiǎo yuàn jiāng mǎn shù dān hóng , chéng wéi jīng chéng qiū jì rè mén dǎ kǎ diǎn .

By October, this “Dan Shi Courtyard” will be ablaze with crimson leaves, becoming a popular fall photo spot in Beijing.

中国新闻网·文化Jul 2026

作为中华传统纹样,柿蒂纹在汉唐就已盛行,一直流传至今,为中国人民所喜闻乐见。

zuò wéi zhōng huá chuán tǒng wén yàng , shì dì wén zài hàn táng jiù yǐ shèng háng , yī zhí liú chuán zhì jīn , wéi zhōng guó rén mín suǒ xǐ wén lè jiàn .

As a traditional Chinese motif, the persimmon-stalk pattern was already popular during the Han and Tang dynasties and has been passed down to the present day, remaining a favorite among the Chinese people.

SmzdmApr 2026

老北京宫廷果子干:柿饼神仙吃法

lǎo běi jīng gōng tíng guǒ zǐ gān : shì bǐng shén xiān chī fǎ

Traditional Beijing Imperial Dried Fruits: A Divine Way to Enjoy Dried Persimmons

SmzdmMar 2026

大葱炒牛肉,酸菜炒肉,酱拌菠菜,糖柿子,都是下饭硬菜

dà cōng chǎo niú ròu , suān cài chǎo ròu , jiàng bàn 菠 cài , táng shì zǐ , dōu shì xià fàn yìng cài

Stir-fried beef with scallions, stir-fried pork with pickled cabbage, spinach with sauce, and candied persimmons—these are all hearty dishes that go great with rice.

Tatoeba

梅格买了一罐西红柿。

Méi gé mǎi le yī guàn xīhóngshì.

Meg bought a can of tomatoes.

Tatoeba

我不要红色的柿子椒, 而是要绿色的。

Wǒ bù yào hóngsè de shìzijiāo, érshì yào lǜsè de.

I don't want red bell peppers, I want green ones.

Tatoeba

她在她花园里种西红柿。

Tā zài tā huāyuán lǐ zhòng xīhóngshì.

She grows tomatoes in her garden.

Tatoeba

一公斤的番茄酱等于两公斤的西红柿。

Yī gōngjīn de fānqiéjiàng děngyú liǎng gōngjīn de xīhóngshì.

A kilo of ketchup is equivalent to two kilos of tomatoes.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 木 (tree) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced shì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 柿 (shì) mean in Chinese?
柿 (shì) primarily means "persimmon." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #2888 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 柿 have?
柿 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 柿?
The radical associated with 柿 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 柿?
柿 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 市 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木市 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 柿?
Common words with 柿 include: 西红柿 (xī hóng shì, "tomato"); 柿子 (shì zi, "persimmon"); 柿子椒 (shì zi jiāo, "bell pepper, aka sweet pepper"); 柿子挑软的捏 (shì zi tiāo ruǎn de niē, "lit. it's the soft persimmons that people choose to squeeze (idiom)"); 洋柿子 (yáng shì zi, "(dialect) tomato"). There are over 7 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 柿 (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 柿 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 柿 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 柿 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.