视 (shì): (literary, or bound form) to look at

视 (shì) is a Chinese character meaning “(literary, or bound form) to look at.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 礻 (phonetic) and 见 (semantic). It ranks #438 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 视 see. Its radical form 礻 (spirit) appears in many related characters such as 票 (piào, ticket), 示 (shì, to show), 礼 (lǐ, gift).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (literary, or bound form) to look at

Etymology & Origin

视

pictophoneticsee

Decomposition: ⿰礻见 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 视

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
电视noundiàn shìtelevision1
视频nounshì pínvideo4
电视台noundiàn shì táitelevision station5
电视剧noundiàn shì jùTV series4
忽视verbhū shìto neglect5
重视verbzhòng shìto attach importance to sth4
视觉nounshì juésight6
视为verbshì wéito view as5
视力nounshì lìeyesight6
影视nounyǐng shìmovies and television5
近视adjectivejìn shìmyopic6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
监视verbjiān shìto monitor
视线nounshì xiànline of sight
无视verbwú shìto ignore
电视机diàn shì jītelevision set
歧视verbqí shìto discriminate against
监视器nounjiān shì qìsecurity camera
注视verbzhù shìto look attentively at
收视率shōu shì lǜratings (of a TV show)
视野nounshì yěfield of view
鄙视verbbǐ shìto despise
有线电视yǒu xiàn diàn shìcable television
视而不见shì ér bù jiàn(idiom) to turn a blind eye to
藐视verbmiǎo shìto despise
探视verbtàn shìto visit (a patient, prisoner etc)
视角nounshì jiǎoangle from which one observes an object
112
Total compounds
27
As first character
67
As last character
6
As middle character

视 appears in 112 compound words: 27 as the first character, 67 as the last, and 6 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 视 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

频pín
0.63954,541 co-occurrences
太tài
0.638126,580 co-occurrences
空kōng
0.637126,762 co-occurrences
剧jù
0.63567,066 co-occurrences
监jiān
0.619134,812 co-occurrences
电diàn
0.607212,597 co-occurrences
恒héng
0.56815,500 co-occurrences
觉jué
0.56214,564 co-occurrences
歧qí
0.5249,509 co-occurrences
卫wèi
0.51723,330 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (23)

傲视群伦ào shì qún lúnHSK 7+

outstanding talent (idiom); incomparable artistic merit; accomplishment out of the ordinary

phrase
短视近利duǎn shì jìn lìHSK 4+

to be focused on short-term gain

phrase
高视阔步gāoshìkuòbùHSK 6+

to carry oneself proudly; to strut; to prance

phrase
混淆视听hùnxiáoshìtīngHSK 7+

to mislead the public with prevarication and deliberate falsehoods; to obscure the facts

phrase
假性近视jiǎ xìng jìn shìHSK 4+

pseudomyopia

phrase
目不忍视mù bù rěn shìHSK 5+

(lit.) the eye cannot bear to see it (idiom); (fig.) pitiful to behold

phrase
目不斜视mùbùxiéshìHSK 5+

to look straight ahead without casting any sidelong glances

phrase
怒目而视nùmù'érshìHSK 6+

to glare at; to stare at angrily

phrase
视而不见shì ér bù jiànHSK 3+

(idiom) to turn a blind eye to; to ignore

phrase
视如己出shì rú jǐ chūHSK 3+

to regard someone else's child as one's own

phrase
视若无睹shìruòwúdǔHSK 7+

to turn a blind eye

phrase
视死如归shì sǐ rú guīHSK 6+

to view death as a return home; to not be afraid of dying; to face death with equanimity (idiom)

phrase

Showing 12 of 23 idioms containing 视.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

视字的写法很特别,让我印象深刻。

shì zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .

The way the character "视" is written is quite unique and left a deep impression on me.

東方日報Feb 2026

【东方日报世界视线】美国若击败伊朗 战火或延至台海

dōng fāng rì bào shì jiè shì xiàn měi guó ruò jī bài yī lǎng zhàn huǒ huò yán zhì tái hǎi

If the United States defeats Iran, the war may extend to the Taiwan Strait

東方日報Feb 2026

世界视线:美国若击败伊朗 战火或延至台海

shì jiè shì xiàn : měi guó ruò jī bài yī lǎng zhàn huǒ huò yán zhì tái hǎi

World Perspective: If the United States defeats Iran, the war may extend to the Taiwan Strait

百度新闻Feb 2026

视频丨繁荣昌盛,越来越好!这个春节听听大家...

shì pín 丨 fán róng chāng shèng , yuè lái yuè hǎo ! zhè gè chūn jié tīng tīng dà jiā . . .

Video丨Prosperity and prosperity, getting better and better! This Spring Festival, listen to everyone...

百度新闻Feb 2026

微视频|冀望米兰·一封家书——致河北运动员何...

wēi shì pín 冀 wàng mǐ lán yī fēng jiā shū — — zhì hé běi yùn dòng yuán hé . . .

Micro video|Hope Milan A letter from home - to Hebei athletes...

百度新闻Feb 2026

视频丨跨越4000多公里 为了让援疆民警尝...

shì pín 丨 kuà yuè 4 0 0 0 duō gōng lǐ wéi le ràng yuán jiāng mín jǐng cháng . . .

Video丨Spanning more than 4,000 kilometers, in order to let the police who aid Xinjiang taste...

Tatoeba

你最喜欢什么电视剧?

Nǐ zuì xǐhuan shénme diànshìjù?

Which drama series do you like best?

Tatoeba

您能把电视开小声点吗?

Nín néng bǎ diànshì kāi xiǎoshēng diǎn ma?

Can you turn the TV down?

Tatoeba

你知道那座电视塔有多高吗?

Nǐ zhīdào nà zuò diànshìtǎ yǒu duō gāo ma?

Do you know how high the television tower is?

Tatoeba

你可以把电视的音量调低一点吗?

Nǐ kěyǐ bǎ diànshì de yīnliàng tiáo dī yīdiǎn ma?

Would you please turn down the TV?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 见 (see) component

礻 Radical Family — Characters sharing the spirit radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced shì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 视 (shì) mean in Chinese?
视 (shì) primarily means "(literary, or bound form) to look at." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #438 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 视 have?
视 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 视?
The radical associated with 视 is 礻 (spirit). This radical appears in many characters related to spirit.
What are the components of 视?
视 is composed of: 礻 (phonetic), 见 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰礻见 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 视?
Common words with 视 include: 电视 (diàn shì, "television"); 监视 (jiān shì, "to monitor"); 视频 (shì pín, "video"); 电视台 (diàn shì tái, "television station"); 视线 (shì xiàn, "line of sight"). There are over 112 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 视 (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 视 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 视 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 视 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.