(shǔ): to count, to count as, to regard as, to enumerate, to list

(shǔ) is a Chinese character meaning “to count.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #231 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, script. Its radical form (rap) appears in many related characters such as (fàng, to put, to release), (jiào, (bound form) to teach), (shōu, to receive).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to count
  2. to count as
  3. to regard as
  4. to enumerate
  5. to list

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticscript

Decomposition: ⿰娄攵 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
shù zìnumeral4
nounshù jùdata5
nounshù xuémathematics3
adjectivewú shùcountless5
nounrén shùnumber of people4
nounshù liàngamount4
nounshù mùamount6
nounduō shùmajority4
nounfēn shù(exam) grade4
nounshǎo shùsmall number4
nouncì shùnumber of times6
nounsuì shuage (number of years old)6
nounzǒng shùtotal5
verbshù zì huàto digitize6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
dào shǔto count backwards (from 10 down to 0)
piào shùnumber of votes
shù bǎiseveral hundred
dú shùreading
bàn shùhalf the number
shù éamount
xiè shùtalent
jì shùto count
dài shùalgebra
cān shùparameter
biàn shùvariable factor
diǎn shùto count and check
fù shù(linguistics) plural
gè shùnumber of items or individuals
bào shùnumber off! (command in military drill)
100
Total compounds
16
As first character
84
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 16 as the first character, 84 as the last, and 0 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.687437,639 co-occurrences
hán
0.650150,043 co-occurrences
liàng
0.599455,956 co-occurrences
kǒu
0.514290,466 co-occurrences
duō
0.496320,280 co-occurrences
rén
0.489735,576 co-occurrences
0.486161,562 co-occurrences
shǎo
0.465133,596 co-occurrences
0.46442,516 co-occurrences
wéi
0.460384,744 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (28)

bùjì-qíshùHSK 4+

countless

phrase
bùkěshèngshǔHSK 5+

too numerous to count

phrase
齿bù zú chǐ shùHSK 5+

not worth mentioning; not worth considering

phrase
děng chā jí shùHSK 3+

arithmetic series (such as 2+4+6+8+...)

phrase
èrcì hánshùHSK 7+

quadratic function

noun
gēng pú nán shǔHSK 7+

too many to count; very many; innumerable

phrase
hénghéshāshùHSK 7+

an extremely large number of; as numerous as there are grains of sand in the Ganges

phrase
húnshēnxièshùHSK 7+

all of one's skill; everything within one's power

phrase
jǐhé jíshùHSK 4+

geometric series; exponentially

nounadverb
jiǎnshù fēnlièHSK 7+

meiosis

noun
jiěxī hánshùHSK 7+

analytic function

noun
lìlìkěshǔHSK 3+

every one of them can be seen distinctly; can be counted one by one

phrase

Showing 12 of 28 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学是一门重要的学科,在日常生活中经常用到。

Shùxué shì yī mén zhòngyào de xuékē, zài rìcháng shēnghuó zhōng jīngcháng yòng dào.

Mathematics is an important subject that is often used in daily life.

百度新闻Feb 2026

利弗莫尔中概股龙头指收涨0.94% 网易有道涨近..

lì 弗 mò ěr zhōng gài gǔ lóng tóu zhǐ shǔ shōu zhǎng 0 . 9 4 wǎng yì yǒu dào zhǎng jìn . .

Livermore Chinese Concept Stock Leading Index closed up 0.94% NetEase Youdao rose nearby:

百度新闻Feb 2026

美国12月营建许可总录得144.8万户,为202..

měi guó yuè yíng jiàn xǔ kě zǒng shǔ lù dé . mò hù , wéi . .

U.S. building permits totaled 1.448 million in December, up from 202...

百度新闻Feb 2026

欧洲斯托克600指触及新纪录高位

ōu zhōu sī tuō kè zhǐ shǔ chù jí xīn jì lù gāo wèi

Europe's Stoxx 600 touches new record highs

百度新闻Feb 2026

B站总台春晚直播弹幕达1.33亿,发送量排名前..

zhàn zǒng tái chūn wǎn zhí bō dàn mù shǔ dá . yì , fā sòng shǔ liáng pái míng qián . .

B station total station Spring Festival Gala live pop-ups reached 133 million, sending the number of top...

百度新闻Feb 2026

深夜,黄金、白银、原油齐涨,美股三大指集体上涨丨..

shēn yè , huáng jīn bái yín yuán yóu qí zhǎng , měi gǔ sān dà zhǐ shǔ jí tī shǎng zhǎng 丨 . .

Late at night, gold, silver, and crude oil all rose, while the three major U.S. stock indices collectively gained.

Tatoeba

你把字记熟了吗?

Nǐ bǎ shùzì jì shú le ma?

Have you learned the number by heart?

Tatoeba

你能用中文到十吗?

Nǐ néng yòng Zhōngwén shǔ dào shí ma?

Can you count to ten in Chinese?

Tatoeba

您父母多大岁了?

Nín fùmǔ duōdà suìshu le?

How old are your parents?

Tatoeba

有多少本算书留着?

Yǒu duōshao běn suànshù shū liú zhe?

How many arithmetic books are left?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shǔ

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 数 (shǔ) mean in Chinese?
数 (shǔ) primarily means "to count." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #231 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 数 and 楼?
数 (shǔ) and 楼 (lóu) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 攵 vs 木 (same 娄 component).
How many strokes does 数 have?
数 is written with 13 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 数?
The radical associated with 数 is 攵 (rap). This radical appears in many characters related to rap.
What are the components of 数?
数 is composed of: 娄 (phonetic), 攵 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰娄攵 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 数?
Common words with 数 include: 数字 (shù zì, "numeral"); 数据 (shù jù, "data"); 数学 (shù xué, "mathematics"); 无数 (wú shù, "countless"); 倒数 (dào shǔ, "to count backwards (from 10 down to 0)"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 数 (shǔ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shǔ: 书 (abbr. for 書經|书经), 叔 (uncle), 殊 ((literary) to kill), 舒 (to stretch), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 数 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 数 and the traditional form is 數.

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.