(shù): (bound form) ordinary, numerous

(shù) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) ordinary.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical 广 (shelter). It ranks #4436 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 广 shelter11 strokesFrequency #4436

Definitions

  1. (bound form) ordinary
  2. numerous

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
shù mínthe multitude of common people (in highbrow literature)
fù shùpopulous and affluent
shù chūborn of a concubine (rather than of the wife)
shù zǐson born of a concubine
shù jī(literary) similar
shù jí shìtitle of the temporary position in the Hanlin Academy 翰林院[Han4 lin2 yuan4] conferred on meritorious candidates until ...
shù shìconcubine
shù qīconcubine
lí shùpopulace
9
Total compounds
78
As first character
22
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 9 compound words: 78 as the first character, 22 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gè shù zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

In Classical Chinese, the character "庶" has different meanings.

NewtalkMar 2026

...韧性警讯!吴宗学吁中央地方联手稳物价、护

. . . rèn xìng jǐng xùn ! wú zōng xué xū zhōng yāng dì fāng lián shǒu wěn wù jià , hù shù mín

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 庶 (shù) mean in Chinese?
庶 (shù) primarily means "(bound form) ordinary." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #4436 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 庶 have?
庶 is written with 11 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 庶?
The radical associated with 庶 is 广 (shelter). This radical appears in many characters related to shelter.
What are common words containing 庶?
Common words with 庶 include: 庶民 (shù mín, "the multitude of common people (in highbrow literature)"); 富庶 (fù shù, "populous and affluent"); 庶出 (shù chū, "born of a concubine (rather than of the wife)"); 庶子 (shù zǐ, "son born of a concubine"); 庶几 (shù jī, "(literary) similar"). There are over 9 compound words containing this character.
Is 庶 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 庶 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.