刷 (shuā): a brush, to paint, to daub, to brush, to scrub

刷 (shuā) is a Chinese character meaning “a brush.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 尸 (structural), 巾 (structural) and 刂 (structural). It ranks #1807 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 刷 a person bent over 尸 with a towel 巾. Its radical form 刂 (knife) appears in many related characters such as 分 (fēn, to divide), 别 (bié, to leave), 到 (dào, to reach).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. a brush
  2. to paint
  3. to daub
  4. to brush
  5. to scrub

Etymology & Origin

刷

ideographicA person bent over 尸 with a towel 巾

Decomposition: ⿰⿸尸巾刂 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 刷

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
牙刷nounyá shuātoothbrush3
印刷verbyìn shuāto print5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
刷牙verbshuā yáto brush one's teeth
粉刷verbfěn shuāto paint
刷子nounshuā zibrush
刷新verbshuā xīnto renovate
洗刷verbxǐ shuāto wipe clean
冲刷verbchōng shuāto cleanse
印刷机nounyìn shuā jīprinting press
印刷厂nounyìn shuā chǎngprinting house
印刷品nounyìn shuā pǐnprinted products
印刷体nounyìn shuā tǐprinted style (as opposed to cursive)
印刷术nounyìn shuā shùprinting
刷洗shuā xǐto scrub clean
印刷业yìn shuā yètypography
印刷版yìn shuā bǎnprinting plate
板刷nounbǎn shuāscrubbing brush
53
Total compounds
36
As first character
42
As last character
23
As middle character

刷 appears in 53 compound words: 36 as the first character, 42 as the last, and 23 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 刷 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

印yìn
0.71939,144 co-occurrences
厂chǎng
0.4552,094 co-occurrences
版bǎn
0.4417,662 co-occurrences
洗xǐ
0.4381,150 co-occurrences
株zhū
0.436870 co-occurrences
新xīn
0.42611,222 co-occurrences
卡kǎ
0.4224,932 co-occurrences
粉fěn
0.4151,190 co-occurrences
冲chōng
0.400950 co-occurrences
牙yá
0.3931,520 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

胶版印刷jiāo bǎn yìn shuāHSK 6+

offset printing

phrase
孔版印刷kǒng bǎn yìn shuāHSK 7+

screen printing

phrase
两把刷子liǎng bǎ shuā ziHSK 3+

ability; skill

phrase
凸版印刷tū bǎn yìn shuāHSK 7+

relief printing; typography; printing with metal plates

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个刷字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

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

This character "刷" carries different meanings in Classical Chinese.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...竹联帮大哥狂发钓鱼诈骗简讯 107人遭盗刷450万

. . . zhú lián bāng dà gē kuáng fā diào yú zhà piàn jiǎn xùn 1 0 7 rén zāo dào shuā 4 5 0 wàn

... The eldest brother of the Bamboo Union Gang sent a phishing scam text message 107 people were stolen and swiped 4.5 million

It之家Feb 2026

... 月发布:12.3 英寸 165Hz 高刷屏、骁龙 8 系处理器

. . . yuè fā bù : 1 2 . 3 yīng cùn 1 6 5 H z gāo shuā bǐng , 骁 lóng 8 xì chǔ lǐ qì

... Monthly release: 12.3-inch 165Hz high refresh screen, Snapdragon 8 series processor

It之家Feb 2026

拒绝“末日刷屏”:美国年轻人对抗信息过载,带火老式数...

jù jué mò rì shuā bǐng : měi guó nián qīng rén duì kàng xìn xī guò zài , dài huǒ lǎo shì shǔ . . .

Refuse to "swipe the screen at the end of the world": young Americans fight against information overload and bring fire to old-fashioned numbers...

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

5金4银6铜!中国冬奥军团刷新境外参赛历史最好成绩

5 jīn 4 yín 6 tóng ! zhōng guó dōng ào jūn tuán shuā xīn jìng wài cān sài lì shǐ zuì hǎo chéng jì

5 gold, 4 silver and 6 bronze! The Chinese Winter Olympic Legion set a new record in the history of overseas competitions

百度新闻Feb 2026

...海乐高乐园迎开园后首个春节假期,正月初三刷新单日..

. . . hǎi lè gāo lè yuán yíng kāi yuán hòu shǒu gè chūn jié jiǎ qī , zhèng yuè chū sān shuā xīn dān rì . .

... Haile High Land welcomes the first Spring Festival holiday after the opening of the park, and the third day of the first lunar month refreshes a single day:

Tatoeba

杰克刷去了他外套上的灰尘。

Jiékè shuā qù le tā wàitào shàng de huīchén.

Jack brushed the dust off his coat.

Tatoeba

我不需要粉刷围墙。

Wǒ bù xūyào fěnshuā wéiqiáng.

I didn't need to paint the fence.

Tatoeba

我告诉汤姆我认为他的房子要刷漆。

Wǒ gàosu Tāngmǔ wǒ rènwéi tā de fángzi yào shuā qī.

I told Tom that I thought his house needed to be painted.

Tatoeba

多数人每天至少刷两次牙。

Duōshù rén měitiān zhìshǎo shuā liǎng cì yá.

Most people brush their teeth at least two times a day.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shuā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 刷 (shuā) mean in Chinese?
刷 (shuā) primarily means "a brush." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1807 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 刷 have?
刷 is written with 8 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 刷?
The radical associated with 刷 is 刂 (knife). This radical appears in many characters related to knife.
What are the components of 刷?
刷 is composed of: 尸 (structural), 巾 (structural), 刂 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰⿸尸巾刂 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 刷?
Common words with 刷 include: 刷牙 (shuā yá, "to brush one's teeth"); 牙刷 (yá shuā, "toothbrush"); 印刷 (yìn shuā, "to print"); 粉刷 (fěn shuā, "to paint"); 刷子 (shuā zi, "brush"). There are over 53 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 刷 (shuā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shuā: 耍 (to play with). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 刷 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 刷 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 刷 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.