叔 (shū): uncle, father's younger brother, husband's younger brother

叔 (shū) is a Chinese character meaning “uncle.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 上 (structural), 小 (structural) and 又 (structural). It ranks #1413 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 叔 the smaller 小 brother. Its radical form 又 (again) appears in many related characters such as 友 (yǒu, friend), 又 (yòu, (once) again), 发 (fā, to send out).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. uncle
  2. father's younger brother
  3. husband's younger brother

Etymology & Origin

叔

ideographicThe smaller 小 brother

Decomposition: ⿰⿱上小又 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 叔

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
叔叔nounshū shufather's younger brother3

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
大叔noundà shūeldest of father's younger brothers
叔父nounshū fùfather's younger brother
小叔子xiǎo shū zi(coll.) husband's younger brother
表叔nounbiǎo shūson of grandfather's sister
叔公nounshū gōnggreat uncle
叔母nounshū mǔaunt
叔伯nounshū bai(of cousins) descending from the same grandfather or great-grandfather
叔祖母nounshū zǔ mǔwife of paternal grandfather's younger brother
叔本华proper-nounshū běn huáArthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), German post-Kantian philosopher
王叔文wáng shū wénWang Shuwen (735–806), Tang dynasty scholar, politician and Go player, leader of the failed Yongzhen Reform 永貞革新|永贞革新...
叔子nounshū zibrother-in-law
山姆大叔proper-nounshān mǔ dà shūUncle Sam
家叔nounjiā shū(polite) my uncle (father's younger brother)
李叔同lǐ shū tóngLiu Shutong (1880-1942), painter, Buddhist monk and distinguished figure in New Culture Movement 新文化運動|新文化运动[Xin1 Wen...
小叔nounxiǎo shūhusband's younger brother
31
Total compounds
45
As first character
23
As last character
32
As middle character

叔 appears in 31 compound words: 45 as the first character, 23 as the last, and 32 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 叔 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

父fù
0.52213,924 co-occurrences
侄zhí
0.455842 co-occurrences
孙sūn
0.4201,810 co-occurrences
谦qiān
0.382262 co-occurrences
祖zǔ
0.3752,382 co-occurrences
姨yí
0.375254 co-occurrences
腿tuǐ
0.373412 co-occurrences
汤tāng
0.371384 co-occurrences
伯bó
0.3692,200 co-occurrences
醇chún
0.368314 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

伯仲叔季bózhòngshūjìHSK 7+

eldest, second, third and youngest of brothers; order of seniority among brothers

phrase
山姆大叔Shānmǔ DàshūHSK 7+

Uncle Sam

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

叔叔在国外工作,每年春节才会回来探亲。

Shūshu zài guówài gōngzuò, měi nián Chūnjié cái huì huílai tànqīn.

My uncle works abroad and only comes back to visit during Spring Festival each year.

Hk01.comMar 2026

有片│港铁导盲犬遭阿叔狂骂!惊慌反应极心酸 后续举动获赞:好叻

yǒu piàn gǎng tiě dǎo máng quǎn zāo ā shū kuáng mà ! jīng huāng fǎn yīng jí xīn suān hòu xù jǔ dòng huò zàn : hǎo 叻

Video: MTR Guide Dog Viciously Yelled At by an Older Man! Its Panicked Reaction Is Heartbreaking, but Its Subsequent Action Earns Praise: "So Brave"

中時新聞網Mar 2026

独家》柯叔元回归中视喊“福地” 昔入围视帝再添信心

dú jiā 柯 shū yuán huí guī zhōng shì hǎn fú dì xī rù wéi shì dì zài tiān xìn xīn

Exclusive: Ke Shuyuan Returns to CTV, Calling It a "Lucky Place"; Past Best Actor Nomination Boosts His Confidence

三立新聞網Feb 2026

退休僅存20萬 大叔靠這2招10年後抱千萬

tuì xiū 僅 cún 萬 dà shū kào 這 zhāo nián 後 bào qiān 萬

Retired with only $200,000 in savings, this is how an old man can get his hands on $10 million in 10 years.

百度新闻Feb 2026

爱读书的工地大叔走红后第一个春节:继续种地、看书,..

ài dòu shū de gōng dì dà shū zǒu hóng hòu dì yī gè chūn jié jì xù zhǒng dì kàn shū , . .

The Book-Loving Construction Worker's First Spring Festival After Going Viral: Continuing to Farm and Read...

百度新闻Feb 2026

茶香氤氲,温情暖暖~看阿婆爷叔如何解锁“行云流水”..

chá xiāng 氤 氲 , wēn qíng nuǎn nuǎn kàn ā pó yé shū rú hé jiě suǒ háng yún liú shuǐ . .

The aroma of tea fills the air, warmth and affection abound~ Watch as the grandmothers and uncles unlock the art of "flowing like clouds and water"...

Tatoeba

我叔叔让我担任翻译。

Wǒ shūshu ràng wǒ dānrèn fānyì.

My uncle had me act as a translator.

Tatoeba

我的伯叔住在纽约。

Wǒ de bóshū zhù zài Niǔyuē.

My uncle lives in New York.

Tatoeba

汤姆是玛丽的叔叔。

Tāngmǔ shì Mǎlì de shūshu.

Tom is Mary's uncle.

Tatoeba

我的叔叔去过芬兰。

Wǒ de shūshu qù guo Fēnlán.

My uncle has been to Finland.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shū

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 叔 (shū) mean in Chinese?
叔 (shū) primarily means "uncle." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1413 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 叔 have?
叔 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 叔?
The radical associated with 叔 is 又 (again). This radical appears in many characters related to again.
What are the components of 叔?
叔 is composed of: 上 (structural), 小 (structural), 又 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰⿱上小又 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 叔?
Common words with 叔 include: 叔叔 (shū shu, "father's younger brother"); 大叔 (dà shū, "eldest of father's younger brothers"); 叔父 (shū fù, "father's younger brother"); 小叔子 (xiǎo shū zi, "(coll.) husband's younger brother"); 表叔 (biǎo shū, "son of grandfather's sister"). There are over 31 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 叔 (shū)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shū: 数 (to count), 书 (book), 术 (method), 属 (category), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 叔 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 叔 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 叔 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.