薯 (shǔ): potato, yam

薯 (shǔ) is a Chinese character meaning “potato.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 署 (phonetic). It ranks #2892 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 薯 plant. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 花 (huā, flower), 茶 (chá, tea), 菜 (cài, vegetable, dish).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. potato
  2. yam

Etymology & Origin

薯

pictophoneticplant

Decomposition: ⿱艹署 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 薯

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
薯片nounshǔ piànfried potato chips6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
薯条nounshǔ tiáofrench fries
马铃薯nounmǎ líng shǔpotato
木薯nounmù shǔcassava, a tropical tuber plant
甘薯noungān shǔsweet potato
红薯nounhóng shǔsweet potato
番薯nounfān shǔ(dialect) sweet potato
当官不为民做主不如回家卖红薯dāng guān bù wèi mín zuò zhǔ bù rú huí jiā mài hóng shǔif an official does not put the people first, he might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes
炸薯条nounzhá shǔ tiáofrench fries
炸薯片zhá shǔ piànpotato chip
种薯zhǒng shǔseed tuber
炸薯球zhà shǔ qiútater tot
白薯nounbái shǔsweet potato
参薯nounshēn shǔDioscorea alata (Kinampay or aromatic purple yam, a sweet root crop)
马铃薯泥nounmǎ líng shǔ nímashed potato
豆薯属dòu shǔ shǔyam bean
24
Total compounds
25
As first character
50
As last character
25
As middle character

薯 appears in 24 compound words: 25 as the first character, 50 as the last, and 25 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 薯 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

铃líng
0.636995 co-occurrences
浇jiāo
0.557224 co-occurrences
番fān
0.5451,588 co-occurrences
烤kǎo
0.495210 co-occurrences
茄qié
0.469194 co-occurrences
煎jiān
0.44286 co-occurrences
炸zhà
0.429403 co-occurrences
粉fěn
0.425436 co-occurrences
甘gān
0.424428 co-occurrences
仔zǐ
0.417398 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个薯字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gě shǔ zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

The character "薯" had different meanings in ancient Chinese.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Mar 2026

甘肃定西:马铃薯、中药材农机订单赶制忙

gān sù dìng xī : mǎ líng shǔ , zhōng yào cái nóng jī dìng dān gǎn zhì máng

Dingxi, Gansu: Farmers Rush to Fulfill Orders for Potato and Medicinal Herb Harvesting Machinery

Orientaldaily MyMar 2026

拿笃夫妻带病童返乡陷困境 马玲薯叔叔伸援手

ná 笃 fū qī dài bìng tóng fǎn xiāng xiàn kùn jìng mǎ 玲 shǔ shū shū shēn yuán shǒu

Nantuk Couple Faces Hardship While Returning Home with Sick Child; "Uncle Potato" Comes to the Rescue

SmzdmMar 2026

为什么医院门口很多卖烤红薯的,为什么不卖别的?

wéi shén má yī yuàn mén kǒu hěn duō mài kǎo hóng shǔ de , wéi shén má bù mài bié de ?

Why are there so many vendors selling roasted sweet potatoes outside hospitals? Why don’t they sell anything else?

SmzdmMar 2026

为什么全中国的医院门口,都有一个烤红薯摊?卖烤红薯真能赚钱?#奇怪的知识 #社...

wéi shén má quán zhōng guó de yī yuàn mén kǒu , dōu yǒu yī gè kǎo hóng shǔ tān ? mài kǎo hóng shǔ zhēn néng zhuàn qián ? qí guài de zhī shí shè . . .

Why is there a roasted sweet potato stand outside every hospital in China? Is selling roasted sweet potatoes really profitable? #WeirdFacts #Society...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...炸饺”香气爆棚、松饼堡加10元爽吃“现炸薯饼”

. . . zhà jiǎo xiāng qì bào péng , sōng bǐng bǎo jiā 1 0 yuán shuǎng chī xiàn zhà shǔ bǐng

... Fried dumplings are full of aroma, muffin burgers add 10 yuan to eat "freshly fried hash browns"

Tatoeba

史蒂芬递给伊莎贝拉一袋薯片。

Shǐ dì fēn dì gěi yī shā Bèilā yī dài shǔpiàn.

Stefan handed Isabella a bag of chips.

Tatoeba

你最喜欢用什么方式煮马铃薯?

Nǐ zuì xǐhuan yòng shénme fāngshì zhǔ mǎlíngshǔ?

What's your favorite way to cook potatoes?

Tatoeba

薯条蘸蛋黄酱很好吃!

Shǔtiáo zhàn dànhuángjiàng hěn hǎochī!

Chips with mayonnaise is delicious!

Tatoeba

洋葱比马铃薯快熟。

Yángcōng bǐ mǎlíngshǔ kuài shú.

Onions cook more quickly than potatoes.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 艹 (plant) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced shǔ

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 薯 (shǔ) mean in Chinese?
薯 (shǔ) primarily means "potato." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2892 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 薯 have?
薯 is written with 16 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 薯?
The radical associated with 薯 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 薯?
薯 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 署 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹署 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 薯?
Common words with 薯 include: 薯条 (shǔ tiáo, "french fries"); 马铃薯 (mǎ líng shǔ, "potato"); 薯片 (shǔ piàn, "fried potato chips"); 木薯 (mù shǔ, "cassava, a tropical tuber plant"); 甘薯 (gān shǔ, "sweet potato"). There are over 24 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 薯 (shǔ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shǔ: 曙 ((bound form) daybreak), 数 (to count), 书 (book), 术 (method), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 薯 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 薯 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 薯 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.