蜀 (shǔ): short name for Sichuan 四川 province, one of the Three Kingdoms 三國|三国 after the Han dynasty, also called 蜀漢|蜀汉, situated around what is now Sichuan province

蜀 (shǔ) is a Chinese character meaning “short name for sichuan 四川 province.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 罒 (structural). It ranks #2492 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 虫 insect13 strokesFrequency #2492罒 structural

Definitions

  1. short name for Sichuan 四川 province
  2. one of the Three Kingdoms 三國|三国 after the Han dynasty, also called 蜀漢|蜀汉, situated around what is now Sichuan province

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
蜀葵shǔ kuíhollyhock (Alcea rosea)
乐不思蜀lè bù sī shǔindulge in pleasure and forget home and duty (idiom)
玉蜀黍yù shǔ shǔcorn
巴山蜀水bā shān shǔ shuǐmountains and rivers of Sichuan (idiom)
蜀山区shǔ shān qūShushan, a district of Hefei City 合肥市[He2 fei2 Shi4], Anhui
得陇望蜀dé lǒng wàng shǔlit. covet Sichuan once Gansu has been seized
蜀国shǔ guóSichuan
蜀相shǔ xiàngthe Prime Minister of Shu (i.e. Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮|诸葛亮[Zhu1 ge3 Liang4])
蜀山shǔ shānsee 蜀山區|蜀山区[Shu3 shan1 Qu1]
乐蜀lè shǔLuxor, city in Egypt (Cantonese transliteration)
巴蜀bā shǔSichuan
怪蜀黍guài shǔ shǔsee 怪叔叔[guai4 shu1 shu5]
药蜀葵yào shǔ kuímarsh mallow (Althaea officinalis)
蜀犬吠日shǔ quǎn fèi rìlit. Sichuan dogs bark at the sun (idiom)
蜀汉shǔ hànShu Han (c. 200-263), Liu Bei's kingdom in Sichuan during the Three Kingdoms, claiming legitimacy as successor of Han
18
Total compounds
50
As first character
22
As last character
28
As middle character

蜀 appears in 18 compound words: 50 as the first character, 22 as the last, and 28 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 蜀 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

伐fá
0.4382,478 co-occurrences
汉hàn
0.4264,380 co-occurrences
绣xiù
0.412336 co-occurrences
灭miè
0.4081,410 co-occurrences
巴bā
0.3876,996 co-occurrences
志zhì
0.3684,002 co-occurrences
王wáng
0.3657,908 co-occurrences
魏wèi
0.3561,308 co-occurrences
山shān
0.3497,452 co-occurrences
冈gāng
0.342342 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

巴山蜀水bāshānshǔshuǐHSK 7+

mountains and rivers of Sichuan (including modern-day Chongqing)

phrase
得陇望蜀délǒngwàngshǔHSK 7+

avaricious; greedy; not able to settle for less

phrase
蜀犬吠日shǔquǎnfèirìHSK 7+

to be surprised at something common because of one's ignorance

phrase

Showing 3 of 4 idioms containing 蜀.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习蜀字需要反复练习，才能写得工整。

xué xí shǔ zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

Mastering the character "蜀" requires repeated practice to achieve neat and precise writing.

光明网_新闻视野、文化视角、思想深度、理论高度Mar 2026

成都博物馆:承古蜀文脉 启天府新程

chéng dōu bó wù guǎn : chéng gǔ shǔ wén mài qǐ tiān fǔ xīn chéng

光明网_新闻视野、文化视角、思想深度、理论高度Mar 2026

在蜀地邂逅大洋洲先民的海洋传奇

zài shǔ dì 邂 逅 dà yáng zhōu xiān mín de hǎi yáng chuán qí

Discover the Maritime Legends of the Ancestors of Oceania in Sichuan

Character Family

虫 Radical Family — Characters sharing the insect radical

虫chóng蛋dàn虹hóng融róng蛇shé蚀shí虽suī蛙wā蚊wén虾xiā

Related Characters

蛋dàn虽suī虫chóng蛇shé融róng虹hóng虾xiā蚀shí蚊wén蛙wā

Homophones — Characters pronounced shǔ

书shū叔shū舒shū输shū熟shú属shǔ术shù束shù树shù数shǔ

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 蜀 (shǔ) mean in Chinese?
蜀 (shǔ) primarily means "short name for sichuan 四川 province." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2492 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 蜀 and 长?
蜀 (shǔ) and 长 (cháng) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 蜀 (short) vs 长 (long).
How many strokes does 蜀 have?
蜀 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 蜀?
The radical associated with 蜀 is 虫 (insect). This radical appears in many characters related to insect.
What are the components of 蜀?
蜀 is composed of: 罒 (structural), undefined (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱罒⿹勹虫 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 蜀?
Common words with 蜀 include: 蜀葵 (shǔ kuí, "hollyhock (Alcea rosea)"); 乐不思蜀 (lè bù sī shǔ, "indulge in pleasure and forget home and duty (idiom)"); 玉蜀黍 (yù shǔ shǔ, "corn"); 巴山蜀水 (bā shān shǔ shuǐ, "mountains and rivers of Sichuan (idiom)"); 蜀山区 (shǔ shān qū, "Shushan, a district of Hefei City 合肥市[He2 fei2 Shi4], Anhui"). There are over 18 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 蜀 (shǔ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shǔ: 书 (abbr. for 書經|书经), 叔 (uncle), 舒 (to stretch), 输 (to transport, to lose), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 蜀 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 蜀 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 蜀 with real-time feedback

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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.