抒 (shū): to express, to give expression to, to relieve

抒 (shū) is a Chinese character meaning “to express.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (phonetic) and 予 (semantic). It ranks #2782 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 抒 give. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to express
  2. to give expression to
  3. to relieve

Etymology & Origin

抒

pictophoneticgive

Decomposition: ⿰扌予 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
抒情verbshū qíngto express emotion
抒发verbshū fāto express (an emotion)
抒情诗nounshū qíng shīlyric poetry
各抒己见phrasegè shū jǐ jiàneveryone gives their own view
直抒胸臆zhí shū xiōng yìto speak one's mind
抒写verbshū xiěto express (emotions in prose)
抒怀verbshū huáito express emotion
7
Total compounds
71
As first character
0
As last character
29
As middle character

抒 appears in 7 compound words: 71 as the first character, 0 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 抒 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

诗shī
0.5121,032 co-occurrences
情qíng
0.5057,946 co-occurrences
歌gē
0.4201,632 co-occurrences
曲qū
0.4011,718 co-occurrences
咏yǒng
0.38738 co-occurrences
怀huái
0.374146 co-occurrences
愁chóu
0.37336 co-occurrences
慢màn
0.372172 co-occurrences
吟yín
0.37046 co-occurrences
胸xiōng
0.366104 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

各抒己见gèshūjǐjiànHSK 7+

each expresses their own views

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

妈妈抒着孩子的手,慢慢地过马路。

mā mā shū zhe hái zǐ de shǒu , màn màn dì guò mǎ lù .

Mom held her child's hand as they slowly crossed the street.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

他们不刻意拔高苦难,不刻意神化写作,只是忠实记录日常、真诚抒发感悟。

tā men bù kè yì bá gāo kǔ nán , bù kè yì shén huà xiě zuò , zhī shì zhōng shí jì lù rì cháng , zhēn chéng shū fā gǎn wù .

They do not deliberately exaggerate their suffering or glorify the act of writing; they simply record their daily lives faithfully and express their reflections sincerely.

少数派Jul 2026

其实,但凡你有感悟,可以用任何形式把它们抒发出来!

qí shí , dàn fán nǐ yǒu gǎn wù , kě yǐ yòng rèn hé xíng shì bǎ tā men shū fā chū lái !

Actually, as long as you have some insights, you can express them in any form!

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

长剧可以安静、可以抒情,短剧同样可以。

cháng jù kě yǐ ān jìng , kě yǐ shū qíng , duǎn jù tóng yàng kě yǐ .

Long-form dramas can be quiet and lyrical, and so can short-form dramas.

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

书法作品诸体兼备,既有对历代经典法帖的潜心临习,也有直抒胸臆的原创作品。

shū fǎ zuò pǐn zhū tǐ jiān bèi , jì yǒu duì lì dài jīng diǎn fǎ tiē de qián xīn lín xí , yě yǒu zhí shū xiōng 臆 de yuán chuàng zuò pǐn .

His calligraphy encompasses a wide range of styles, including works that result from his dedicated study of classic calligraphic models from throughout history, as well as original pieces that express his innermost feelings.

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

通过影片,我们将这片土地上的情感积聚起来、抒发出去,观众也接收到了。

tōng guò yǐng piàn , wǒ men jiāng zhè piàn tǔ dì shàng de qíng gǎn jī jù qǐ lái , shū fā chū qù , guàn zhòng yě jiē shōu dào le .

Through the film, we’ve gathered and expressed the emotions of this land, and the audience has received them.

Tatoeba

我喜欢抒情诗多于史诗。

Wǒ xǐhuan shūqíngshī duōyú shǐshī.

I like lyric better than epic.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shū

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 抒 (shū) mean in Chinese?
抒 (shū) primarily means "to express." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2782 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 抒 and 接?
抒 (shū) and 接 (jiē) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 抒 (give) vs 接 (receive).
How many strokes does 抒 have?
抒 is written with 7 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 抒?
The radical associated with 抒 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 抒?
抒 is composed of: 扌 (phonetic), 予 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌予 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 抒?
Common words with 抒 include: 抒情 (shū qíng, "to express emotion"); 抒发 (shū fā, "to express (an emotion)"); 抒情诗 (shū qíng shī, "lyric poetry"); 各抒己见 (gè shū jǐ jiàn, "everyone gives their own view"); 直抒胸臆 (zhí shū xiōng yì, "to speak one's mind"). There are over 7 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 抒 (shū)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shū: 数 (to count), 书 (book), 术 (method), 属 (category), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 抒 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 抒 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 抒 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.