(shuì): to sleep

(shuì) is a Chinese character meaning “to sleep.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #964 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, eye. Its radical form (eye) appears in many related characters such as (kàn, to look, to see), (zhēn, really), (zhe, -ing, to wear).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to sleep

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticeye

Decomposition: ⿰目垂 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

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

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
verbshuì jiàoto go to bed1
nounshuì miánsleep5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
shuì zháoto fall asleep
shuì yīnight clothes
rù shuìto fall asleep
chén shuìto be fast asleep
shuì dàisleeping bag
dǎ kē shuìto doze off
shuì páonightgown
shú shuìasleep
shuì měi rénSleeping Beauty
kē shuìdrowsy
shuì xǐngto wake up
hūn shuìto sleep heavily (due to illness, fatigue etc)
hūn hūn yù shuìdrowsy
shuì yǐcouch
wǔ shuìto take a nap in the afternoon
55
Total compounds
53
As first character
35
As last character
13
As middle character

appears in 55 compound words: 53 as the first character, 35 as the last, and 13 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.

mián
0.77135,127 co-occurrences
shì
0.5873,588 co-occurrences
chén
0.58015,906 co-occurrences
jué
0.5447,562 co-occurrences
hūn
0.5384,632 co-occurrences
dǔn
0.491108 co-occurrences
hān
0.486360 co-occurrences
xǐng
0.4824,213 co-occurrences
hōng
0.453336 co-occurrences
chuáng
0.4362,645 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

hūnhūnyùshuìHSK 7+

sleepy, drowsy

adjective
zǎoshuì zǎoqǐHSK 1+

to sleep early and get up early

phrase
shuìyǎnxīngsōngHSK 2+

drowsy-eyed (describing the state when a person just wakes up)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

昨晚得很晚,今天白天一直很困。

Zuó wǎn shuì de hěn wǎn, jīntiān báitiān yìzhí hěn kùn.

I slept very late last night and have been very sleepy all day today.

三立新聞網Feb 2026

觉太亮恐影响健康?医点名3类人风险高

shuì jué tài liàng kǒng yǐng xiǎng jiàn kāng ? yī diǎn míng 3 lèi rén fēng xiǎn gāo

Sleeping too brightly may affect your health? The doctor named 3 types of people with high risk

TvbsFeb 2026

林襄NBA球場邊「呼呼大」被抓包! 李多慧傻眼偷拍

lín 襄 qiú 場 邊 hū hū dà shuì bèi zhuā bāo ! lǐ duō huì shǎ yǎn tōu pāi

Lin Xiang Caught Napping at NBA Game! Lee Do-hye Stunned by Candid Photo

EttodayFeb 2026

長期眠不足、小心病痛一起來!「5個方法」助你...

長 qī shuì mián bù zú xiǎo xīn bìng tòng yī qǐ 來 ! 個 fāng fǎ zhù nǐ . . .

Long-term sleep deprivation, beware of diseases and pains together! "5 Ways" to help you ...

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

【中環解密】日8小時被炒 投行分析師興訟

zhōng 環 jiě mì rì shuì xiǎo 時 bèi chǎo tóu háng fēn xī 師 興 訟

[Central Declassified] Fired for sleeping 8 hours a day, investment bank analysts are in litigation.

百度新闻Feb 2026

河北男孩放寒假每天到中午12点,爸爸不许家人打扰..

hé běi nán hái fàng hán jiǎ měi tiān shuì dào zhōng wǔ diǎn , bà bà bù xǔ jiā rén dǎ rǎo . .

A boy in Hebei sleeps until noon every day during winter break, and his father forbids the family from disturbing him.

Tatoeba

为什么你昨晚不着?

Wèishénme nǐ zuówǎn shuìbuzháo?

Why couldn't you sleep last night?

Tatoeba

人们怎么能在飞机上觉?

Rénmen zěnme néng zài fēijī shàng shuìjiào?

How do people manage to sleep on the plane?

Tatoeba

你通常什么时候上床觉?

Nǐ tōngcháng shénme shíhou shàng chuáng shuìjiào?

When do you usually go to bed?

Tatoeba

为什么现在还没有?早些觉吧。

Wèishénme xiànzài hái méiyǒu shuì? zǎoxiē shuìjiào ba.

Why haven't you gone to sleep yet? You should go to sleep sooner.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shuì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 睡 (shuì) mean in Chinese?
睡 (shuì) primarily means "to sleep." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #964 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 睡 and 捶?
睡 (shuì) and 捶 (chuí) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 目 vs 扌 (same 垂 component).
How many strokes does 睡 have?
睡 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 睡?
The radical associated with 睡 is 目 (eye). This radical appears in many characters related to eye.
What are the components of 睡?
睡 is composed of: 目 (semantic), 垂 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰目垂 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 睡?
Common words with 睡 include: 睡觉 (shuì jiào, "to go to bed"); 睡着 (shuì zháo, "to fall asleep"); 睡眠 (shuì mián, "sleep"); 睡衣 (shuì yī, "night clothes"); 入睡 (rù shuì, "to fall asleep"). There are over 55 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 睡 (shuì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shuì: 水 (water), 税 (taxes). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 睡 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 睡 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.