述 (shù): (bound form) to state, to tell, to narrate, to relate

述 (shù) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) to state.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 辶 (semantic) and 术 (phonetic). It ranks #674 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 述 walk. Its radical form 辶 (walk) appears in many related characters such as 边 (biān, side), 过 (guò, to pass, past), 还 (hái, still, return).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (bound form) to state
  2. to tell
  3. to narrate
  4. to relate

Etymology & Origin

述

pictophoneticwalk

Decomposition: ⿺辶术 (layout: surround-from-lower-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 述

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
描述verbmiáo shùto describe5
讲述verbjiǎng shùto talk about5
叙述verbxù shùto relate (a story or information)6
上述adjectiveshàng shùaforementioned6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
陈述verbchén shùto state
阐述verbchǎn shùto expound (a position)
口述verbkǒu shùto dictate
表述verbbiǎo shùto express
复述verbfù shùto repeat (one's own words or sb else's)
述说verbshù shuōto recount
引述verbyǐn shùto quote
转述verbzhuǎn shùto pass on (stories)
论述verblùn shùtreatise
记述verbjì shùto write an account (of events)
综上所述phrasezōng shàng suǒ shùto summarize
评述verbpíng shùto comment on
自述nounzì shùto recount in one's own words
概述verbgài shùoverview
陈述句nounchén shù jùdeclarative sentence
43
Total compounds
7
As first character
86
As last character
7
As middle character

述 appears in 43 compound words: 7 as the first character, 86 as the last, and 7 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 述 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

描miáo
0.797158,887 co-occurrences
阐chǎn
0.6225,432 co-occurrences
讲jiǎng
0.58024,916 co-occurrences
概gài
0.54820,632 co-occurrences
叙xù
0.4878,422 co-occurrences
摘zhāi
0.4552,802 co-occurrences
上shàng
0.43763,026 co-occurrences
详xiáng
0.4302,694 co-occurrences
编biān
0.40911 co-occurrences
论lùn
0.4078,358 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

综上所述zōngshàngsuǒshùHSK 5+

in conclusion; in summary

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他在报告中详细叙述了整个事件的过程。

Tā zài bàogào zhōng xiángxì xùshù le zhěng gè shìjiàn de guòchéng.

He detailed the entire process of the incident in his report.

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

辉达执行长黄仁勋称SaaS末日论述错误,认为存在“深度误解”

huī dá zhí háng cháng huáng rén xūn chèn S a a S mò rì lùn shù cuò wù , rèn wéi cún zài shēn dù wù jiě

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called the SaaS doomsday discourse wrong, believing there was a "deep misunderstanding"

NewsFeb 2026

子宫回声不均匀什么意思?B超单上这个描述常见吗

zǐ gōng huí shēng bù jūn yún shén má yì sī ? chāo dān shàng zhè gè miáo shù cháng jiàn ma

What does uneven uterine echo mean? Is this description common on the B-ultrasound list?

中国军网Feb 2026

...委员、书记处书记等向党中央和习近平总书记述职

. . . wěi yuán , shū jì chǔ shū jì děng xiàng dǎng zhōng yāng hé xí jìn píng zǒng shū jì shù zhí

... Members and secretaries of the Secretariat reported to the Party Central Committee and General Secretary Xi Jinping

Investing 香港Feb 2026

...ties反驳Citrini对AI的末日论述

. . . t i e s fǎn bó C i t r i n i duì A I de mò rì lùn shù

... ties refutes Citrini's doomsday narrative on AI

Hk01.comFeb 2026

佘詩曼喜遇周潤發變心心眼 發長文講述兩次相遇緣份難掩激動之情

佘 詩 曼 xǐ yù zhōu 潤 發 變 xīn xīn yǎn 發 長 wén 講 shù 兩 cì xiāng yù 緣 fèn 難 yǎn jī 動 zhī qíng

Tavia Yeung Happily Meets Chow Yun-fat, Becomes a Star-struck Fan; Writes a Long Post Detailing Their Two Encounters, Unable to Hide Her Excitement.

Tatoeba

他简单地阐述了他的理由。

Tā jiǎndān de chǎnshù le tā de lǐyóu.

He gave his reasons in brief.

Tatoeba

我开始怀疑他陈述的准确性。

Wǒ kāishǐ huáiyí tā chénshù de zhǔnquèxìng.

I began to doubt the accuracy of his statement.

Tatoeba

他详细地叙述了那场意外的经过。

Tā xiángxì de xù shù le nà chǎng yìwài de jīngguò.

He gave a detailed description of the accident.

Tatoeba

用自己的语言把课文内容复述。

Yòng zìjǐ de yǔyán bǎ kèwén nèiróng fùshù.

Use your own words to retell the content of the lesson.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 辶 (walk) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced shù

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 述 (shù) mean in Chinese?
述 (shù) primarily means "(bound form) to state." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #674 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 述 have?
述 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 述?
The radical associated with 述 is 辶 (walk). This radical appears in many characters related to walk.
What are the components of 述?
述 is composed of: 辶 (semantic), 术 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿺辶术 with a surround-from-lower-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 述?
Common words with 述 include: 描述 (miáo shù, "to describe"); 陈述 (chén shù, "to state"); 讲述 (jiǎng shù, "to talk about"); 叙述 (xù shù, "to relate (a story or information)"); 阐述 (chǎn shù, "to expound (a position)"). There are over 43 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 述 (shù)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shù: 数 (to count), 书 (book), 术 (method), 属 (category), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 述 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 述 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 述 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.