(shú): cooked, familiar

(shú) is a Chinese character meaning “cooked, familiar.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #1034 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, fire. Its radical form (fire) appears in many related characters such as (diǎn, point, o'clock), (, hot, to heat), (rán, nature, thus).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. cooked, familiar

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticfire

Decomposition: ⿱孰灬 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

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
verbshú xīto be familiar with4
verb/adjectivechéng shúmature5
nounshú rénacquaintance5
adjectiveshú liànpracticed5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
yǎn shúfamiliar-looking
ěr shúto sound familiar
shēn sī shú lǜmature reflection
shú shícooked food
shú zhīto be well acquainted with
shú shuìasleep
miàn shúto look familiar
zǎo shúprecocious
shú shito be well acquainted with
xián shúadept
jià qīng jiù shúlit. an easy drive on a familiar path (idiom)
shú néng shēng qiǎowith familiarity you learn the trick (idiom)
shú tòucompletely ripe
shú shì wú dǔ(idiom) to turn a blind eye to (sth one sees regularly)
làn shúwell cooked
97
Total compounds
47
As first character
38
As last character
14
As middle character

appears in 97 compound words: 47 as the first character, 38 as the last, and 14 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.

0.74052,293 co-occurrences
zhǔ
0.5767,032 co-occurrences
chéng
0.491110,748 co-occurrences
liàn
0.48910,246 co-occurrences
zhēng
0.4412,910 co-occurrences
0.4351,038 co-occurrences
shuì
0.4353,113 co-occurrences
zhī
0.42719,842 co-occurrences
kǎo
0.4121,098 co-occurrences
chǎo
0.391834 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

bànshēngbùshúHSK 4+

half-cooked; underdone; underripe; not mastered; not skilled (of a technique)

phrase
ěrshúnéngxiángHSK 4+

heard a million times, to the point where one can recite it in one's sleep; well-worn (phrase)

phrase
guāshúdìluòHSK 7+

things naturally succeed once a suitable time has arrived and conditions are met

phrase
gǔnguālànshúHSK 6+

by heart; (recite, etc.) fluently

phrase
qīngchēshúlùHSK 4+

to perform a task with which one is very familiar with great ease

phrase
shēnsīshúlǜHSK 4+

deliberation; deep and careful consideration

phrase
shúménshúlùHSK 4+

to know something very well; to be very familiar with something

phrase
shúnéngshēngqiǎoHSK 4+

practice makes perfect

phrase
shúshìwúdǔHSK 7+

to turn a blind eye to; to pay no attention to a familiar sight

phrase

Showing 9 of 10 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

只有练掌握这门技术,才能在工作中提高效率。

Zhǐyǒu shúliàn zhǎngwò zhè mén jìshù, cáinéng zài gōngzuò zhōng tígāo xiàolǜ.

Only by mastering this skill proficiently can you improve efficiency at work.

99 健康网Feb 2026

青菜煮能过夜吗能吃吗?这些隔夜菜知识要牢记

qīng cài zhǔ shú néng guò yè ma néng chī ma ? zhè xiē gé yè cài zhī shí yāo láo jì

Can cooked greens be left overnight? Are they safe to eat? Keep these overnight leftovers tips in mind.

99 健康网Feb 2026

银耳做后能隔夜吃吗?隔夜银耳的食用注意事项

yín ěr zuò shú hòu néng gé yè chī ma ? gé yè yín ěr de shí yòng zhù yì shì xiàng

Can cooked white fungus be eaten the next day? Precautions for consuming leftover white fungus

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

全台最夯客制壽司「鮨 天本」插旗倫敦 海外餐價、...

quán tái zuì 夯 shú kè zhì 壽 sī 鮨 tiān běn chā qí 倫 dūn hǎi wài cān 價 . . .

Sushi Tenbon, Taiwan's Hottest Custom Sushi Spot, Opens in London Overseas Dining Prices, ...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...星座馬年容易上當...獅子投資被騙、他被人捅一刀

. . . xīng zuò 馬 nián róng yì shàng 當 . . . 獅 zǐ tóu 資 bèi 騙 tā bèi shú rén tǒng yī dāo

...Zodiac signs prone to deception in the Year of the Horse... Leos fall victim to investment scams, stabbed in the back by acquaintances.

NewtalkFeb 2026

...工驚魂!醫美負責人中彈 槍手喬裝落跑手法

. . . gōng 驚 hún ! 醫 měi 負 責 rén zhōng 彈 槍 shǒu 喬 裝 luò pǎo shǒu fǎ shú 練

Shocking Incident! Medical Aesthetics Director Shot; Gunman Escapes in Disguise with Skilled Tactics

Tatoeba

你把数字记了吗?

Nǐ bǎ shùzì jì shú le ma?

Have you learned the number by heart?

Tatoeba

您的牛排要几分

Nín de niúpái yào jǐfēn shú?

How would you like your steak?

Tatoeba

悉这个领域吗?

Nǐ shúxī zhège lǐngyù ma?

Is that an area you are familiar with?

Tatoeba

你对足球规则悉吗?

Nǐ duì zúqiú guīzé shúxī ma?

Are you familiar with the rules of soccer?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shú

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 熟 (shú) mean in Chinese?
熟 (shú) primarily means "cooked, familiar." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #1034 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 熟 have?
熟 is written with 15 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 熟?
The radical associated with 熟 is 灬 (fire). This radical appears in many characters related to fire.
What are the components of 熟?
熟 is composed of: 孰 (phonetic), 灬 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱孰灬 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 熟?
Common words with 熟 include: 熟悉 (shú xī, "to be familiar with"); 成熟 (chéng shú, "mature"); 熟人 (shú rén, "acquaintance"); 眼熟 (yǎn shú, "familiar-looking"); 熟练 (shú liàn, "practiced"). There are over 97 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 熟 (shú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shú: 书 (abbr. for 書經|书经), 叔 (uncle), 殊 ((literary) to kill), 舒 (to stretch), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 熟 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 熟 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.