双 (shuāng): two, double, pair, both, even (number)

双 (shuāng) is a Chinese character meaning “two.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 又 (structural) and 又 (structural). It ranks #581 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 双 two hands 又 side-by-side. Its radical form 又 (again) appears in many related characters such as 友 (yǒu, friend), 又 (yòu, (once) again), 发 (fā, to send out).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. two
  2. double
  3. pair
  4. both
  5. even (number)

Etymology & Origin

双

ideographicTwo hands 又 side-by-side

Decomposition: ⿰又又 (layout: left-right)

Components:又structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 双

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
双方nounshuāng fāngbilateral5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
双胞胎nounshuāng bāo tāitwin
双手nounshuāng shǒuboth hands
双重adjectiveshuāng chóngdouble
双人adjectiveshuāng réntwo-person
双面adjectiveshuāng miàndouble-sided
双关nounshuāng guānpun
双臂nounshuāng bìarms
双亲nounshuāng qīnboth parents
双关语nounshuāng guān yǔpun
双层adjectiveshuāng céngdouble tier
双向nounshuāng xiàngbidirectional
双鱼proper-nounshuāng yúPisces (star sign)
双双adverbshuāng shuāngboth
双子nounshuāng zǐGemini (star sign)
双眸nounshuāng móuone's pair of eyes
100
Total compounds
97
As first character
3
As last character
0
As middle character

双 appears in 100 compound words: 97 as the first character, 3 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 双 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

桨jiǎng
0.5912,940 co-occurrences
憋biē
0.51427 co-occurrences
杠gàng
0.5031,230 co-occurrences
打dǎ
0.49826,060 co-occurrences
混hùn
0.4759,356 co-occurrences
方fāng
0.46142,416 co-occurrences
胎tāi
0.4502,898 co-occurrences
赛sài
0.44115,348 co-occurrences
层céng
0.4406,538 co-occurrences
决jué
0.4379,190 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (18)

比翼双飞bǐyìshuāngfēiHSK 7+

to be together day and night; to help each other and move forward together

phrase
才貌双全cái mào shuāng quánHSK 4+

talented and good-looking (idiom)

phrase
德艺双馨déyìshuāngxīnHSK 7+

being reputable for having both artistic skills and morals (especially when referring to an artist of any domain)

phrase
福无双至fú wú shuāng zhìHSK 4+

(idiom) blessings never come in pairs

phrase
父母双亡fù mǔ shuāng wángHSK 6+

to have lost both one's parents

phrase
寡二少双guǎ èr shǎo shuāngHSK 7+

peerless; second to none (idiom)

phrase
举世无双jǔshìwúshuāngHSK 4+

unique; unparalleled; singular

phrase
双孢蘑菇shuāngbāo mógu

button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus)

noun
双边贸易shuāng biān mào yìHSK 6+

bilateral trade

phrase
双管齐下shuāngguǎnqíxiàHSK 5+

to use a two-pronged approach; to work along both lines simultaneously

phrase
双栖双宿shuāng qī shuāng sùHSK 7+

see 雙宿雙飛|双宿双飞

phrase
双曲余割shuāng qū yú gēHSK 6+

hyperbolic cosecant, i.e. function cosech(x)

phrase

Showing 12 of 18 idioms containing 双.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他有一双明亮的眼睛,总是充满了好奇心。

Tā yǒu yī shuāng míngliàng de yǎnjing, zǒng shì chōngmǎn le hàoqí xīn.

He has a pair of bright eyes that are always full of curiosity.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

桃园人妻晨间泼酸毁夫双眼 获缓刑理由曝光

táo yuán rén qī chén jiān pō suān huǐ fū shuāng yǎn huò huǎn xíng lǐ yóu pù guāng

Taoyuan wife splashed acid in the morning and destroyed her husband's eyes, and the reason for the suspended sentence was exposed

三立新聞網Feb 2026

油品、建案双引擎全开 北基下步锁定绿能

yóu pǐn , jiàn àn shuāng yǐn qíng quán kāi běi jī xià bù suǒ dìng lǜ néng

The dual engines of oil products and construction projects are fully open, and the next step of the North Base is to lock in green energy

百度新闻Feb 2026

...门店排长队 线上订单早高峰 京东七鲜春节双线共..

. . . mén diàn pái cháng duì xiàn shàng dìng dān zǎo gāo fēng jīng dōng qī xiān chūn jié shuāng xiàn gòng . .

... Long queues in stores, morning peak of online orders, JD Qixian Spring Festival double-line total:

百度新闻Feb 2026

俄外长:俄美已商定建立双边经济工作组

é wài cháng é měi yǐ shāng dìng jiàn lì shuāng biān jīng jǐ gōng zuò zǔ

Russian Foreign Minister: Russia and the US have agreed to set up a bilateral economic working group

百度新闻Feb 2026

餐饮在线运营商再惠谋求新加坡和香港双重上市:尚未盈..

cān yǐn zài xiàn yùn yíng shāng zài huì móu qiú xīn jiā pō hé xiāng gǎng shuāng chóng shǎng shì shàng wèi yíng . .

F&B online operator Re-Wai seeks dual listing in Singapore and Hong Kong: not yet profitable...

Tatoeba

“那双鞋是谁的?” “汤姆的。”

"Nà shuāng xié shì shéi de?" "Tāngmǔ de."

"Whose shoes are these?" "They're Tom's."

Tatoeba

她合上双唇,并告诉自己不要哭。

Tā héshàng shuāng chún, bìng gàosu zìjǐ bù yào kū.

She pressed her lips together and willed herself not to cry.

Tatoeba

我们不能分辨那对双胞胎。

Wǒmen bù néng fēnbiàn nà duì shuāngbāotāi.

We could not tell the twins one from the other.

Tatoeba

老人闭上双眼,在长凳上坐着。

Lǎorén bìshang shuāngyǎn, zài chángdèng shàng zuò zhe.

The old man sat on the bench with his eyes closed.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shuāng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 双 (shuāng) mean in Chinese?
双 (shuāng) primarily means "two." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #581 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 双 have?
双 is written with 4 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 双?
The radical associated with 双 is 又 (again). This radical appears in many characters related to again.
What are the components of 双?
双 is composed of: 又 (structural), 又 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰又又 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 双?
Common words with 双 include: 双胞胎 (shuāng bāo tāi, "twin"); 双手 (shuāng shǒu, "both hands"); 双方 (shuāng fāng, "bilateral"); 双重 (shuāng chóng, "double"); 双人 (shuāng rén, "two-person"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 双 (shuāng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shuāng: 爽 (bright), 霜 (frost). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 双 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 双 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 双 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.