寿 (shòu): long life, old age, age
寿 (shòu) is a Chinese character meaning “long life.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 丰 (structural) and 寸 (structural). It ranks #1604 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 寿 altered form of 老. Its radical form 寸 (inch) appears in many related characters such as 对 (duì, right), 封 (fēng, to confer), 导 (dǎo, to transmit).
Definitions
- long life
- old age
- age
Etymology & Origin
ideographicAltered form of 老
Decomposition: ⿸丰寸 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 寿 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 寿
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 人寿保险 | rén shòu bǎo xiǎn | life insurance |
| 寿星 | shòu xīng | god of longevity |
| 寿险 | shòu xiǎn | life insurance (abbr. for 人壽保險|人寿保险[ren2 shou4 bao3 xian3]) |
| 大寿 | dà shòu | (polite) birthday making the beginning of new decade of life for an older person, especially over 50 years old (e.g. ... |
| 寿衣 | shòu yī | burial clothes |
| 寿终正寝 | shòu zhōng zhèng qǐn | to die of old age |
| 折寿 | zhé shòu | to have one's life shortened (by excesses etc) |
| 延年益寿 | yán nián yì shòu | to make life longer |
| 祝寿 | zhù shòu | to offer birthday congratulations (to an elderly person) |
| 福寿 | fú shòu | happiness and longevity |
| 人寿 | rén shòu | human lifespan |
| 高寿 | gāo shòu | longevity |
| 阳寿 | yáng shòu | predestined lifespan |
| 寿堂 | shòu táng | mourning hall |
| 寿命不长 | shòu mìng bù cháng | one's days are numbered |
寿 appears in 80 compound words: 43 as the first character, 31 as the last, and 26 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 寿 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (11)
Example Sentences
寿字在日常生活中使用频率中等。
shòu zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ zhōng děng .
The character for "longevity" is used moderately frequently in daily life.
花莲第一间! 藏寿司首度进军东台湾 插旗“日出香榭大道”征...
huā lián dì yī jiān ! zàng shòu sī shǒu dù jìn jūn dōng tái wān chā qí rì chū xiāng 榭 dà dào zhēng . . .
The first room in Hualien! Tibetan sushi entered eastern Taiwan for the first time and planted a flag on the "Sunrise Champs-Élysées" campaign...
俄罗斯1905年出生女子或成最长寿,该女子的日常习惯引发关注
é luó sī 1 9 0 5 nián chū shēng nǚ zǐ huò chéng zuì cháng shòu , gāi nǚ zǐ de rì cháng xí guàn yǐn fā guān zhù
A woman born in 1905 in Russia may be the longest-lived, and her daily habits have attracted attention
宏利新加坡售出一份3亿美元人寿保单 破世纪记录
hóng lì xīn jiā pō shòu chū yī fèn 3 yì měi yuán rén shòu bǎo dān pò shì jì jì lù
Manulife Singapore sold a $300 million life policy to break a century-old record
全台最夯熟客制寿司“鮨 天本”插旗伦敦 海外餐价、预约方...
quán tái zuì bèn shú kè zhì shòu sī 鮨 tiān běn chā qí lún dūn hǎi wài cān jià , yù yuē fāng . . .
Taiwan's most popular customized sushi "Sushi Tianben" planted the flag in London Overseas meal prices, reservations...
为什么不尝尝寿司？
Wèishénme bù cháng cháng shòusī?
Why don't you have some sushi?
你今晚想吃寿司吗？
Nǐ jīnwǎn xiǎng chī shòusī ma?
Do you want to have sushi tonight?
请问您老人家高寿？
Qǐngwèn nín lǎorénjiā gāo shòu?
May I ask how old you are?
日本人每天都会吃寿司吗？
Rìběnrén měitiān dōu huì chī shòusī ma?
Do Japanese people eat sushi every day?
我最爱吃寿喜烧了！
Wǒ zuì ài chī shòuxǐshāo le!
I love to eat Sukiyaki most of all!
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 寿 (shòu) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 寿 and 筑?
How many strokes does 寿 have?
What is the radical of 寿?
What are the components of 寿?
What are common words containing 寿?
What characters sound the same as 寿 (shòu)?
Is 寿 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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