(shuì): taxes, duties

(shuì) is a Chinese character meaning “taxes.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #781 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, grain 禾 paid as tribute 兑; 兑 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form (grain) appears in many related characters such as (qiū, autumn), (, branch of study), (, to hire).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. taxes
  2. duties

Etymology & Origin

ideographicGrain 禾 paid as tribute 兑; 兑 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰禾兑 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

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

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
verbmiǎn shuìnot liable to taxation (of monastery, imperial family etc)6
退tuì shuìtax rebate or refund6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
guó shuì jú(Tw) National Taxation Bureau, local branch of the Ministry of Finance 財政部|财政部[Cai2 zheng4 bu4]
shuì shōutaxation
nà shuì réntaxpayer
shuì wùtaxation services
nà shuìto pay taxes
táo shuìto evade a tax
jiǎo shuìto pay tax
shuì wù júTax Bureau
shuì kuǎntax payments
shuì jīntax money (paid or due)
jiǎn shuìto reduce the tax rate
bào shuìto file an income tax return
shōu shuìto collect tax
lòu shuìtax evasion
bǎn shuìroyalty (on books)
77
Total compounds
22
As first character
61
As last character
17
As middle character

appears in 77 compound words: 22 as the first character, 61 as the last, and 17 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.

0.5655,886 co-occurrences
0.557106 co-occurrences
0.54822,566 co-occurrences
0.54417 co-occurrences
jiǎo
0.5363,078 co-occurrences
shōu
0.51433,372 co-occurrences
zhēng
0.51113,924 co-occurrences
guān
0.50125,485 co-occurrences
0.48719,926 co-occurrences
chuān
0.48656 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

guān shuì bì lěiHSK 7+

tariff wall

phrase
kējuānzáshuìHSK 7+

exorbitant taxes

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。

shuì zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .

The character "tax" has different usages in different contexts.

Fx168 Finance NetworkFeb 2026

太意外!?特朗普15%全球关为中国送上“减大礼”,英法日德成“最大...

tài yì wài ! ? tè lǎng pǔ 1 5 quán qiú guān shuì wéi zhōng guó sòng shàng jiǎn shuì dà lǐ , yīng fǎ rì dé chéng zuì dà . . .

It's so unexpected!? Trump's 15% global tariff sent a "tax cut gift" to China, and Britain, France, Japan and Germany became "the largest...

Hk01.comFeb 2026

美贸易代表:关裁决不影响中美贸易协议 也不影响特朗普访...

měi mào yì dài biǎo : guān shuì cái jué bù yǐng xiǎng zhōng měi mào yì xié yì yě bù yǐng xiǎng tè lǎng pǔ fǎng . . .

U.S. Trade Representative: The tariff ruling will not affect the Sino-US trade agreement nor will it affect Trump's visit...

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

美贸易代表:尚无任何国家说退出关协议

měi mào yì dài biǎo : shàng wú rèn hé guó jiā shuō tuì chū guān shuì xié yì

USTR: No country has said it has withdrawn from the tariff agreement

LtnFeb 2026

美财长:与贸易夥伴联系 各国盼维持既有关协议

měi cái cháng : yǔ mào yì 夥 bàn lián xì gè guó pàn wéi chí jì yǒu guān shuì xié yì

U.S. Treasury Secretary: Liaising with trading partners Countries hope to maintain existing tariff agreements

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

中方抨滥征 势触新诉讼

zhōng fāng pēng làn zhēng shuì shì chù xīn sù sòng

China criticizes excessive taxation and is bound to lead to new lawsuits

Tatoeba

常被用作刺激经济的主要财政手段。

Jiǎnshuì cháng bèi yòngzuò cìjī jīngjì de zhǔyào cáizhèng shǒuduàn.

Tax cuts are often used as a major fiscal tool to stimulate the economy.

Tatoeba

政府明确宣布了降的意图。

Zhèngfǔ míngquè xuānbù le jiàng shuì de yìtú.

The government clearly stated its intention to lower taxes.

Tatoeba

我付了两百元含

Wǒ fù le liǎng bǎi yuán hánshuì.

I paid $200 in taxes.

Tatoeba

收就是合法的抢劫。

Shuìshōu jiùshì héfǎ de qiǎngjié.

Taxes are just legal robbery.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shuì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 税 (shuì) mean in Chinese?
税 (shuì) primarily means "taxes." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #781 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 税 have?
税 is written with 12 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 税?
The radical associated with 税 is 禾 (grain). This radical appears in many characters related to grain.
What are the components of 税?
税 is composed of: 禾 (structural), 兑 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰禾兑 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 税?
Common words with 税 include: 国税局 (guó shuì jú, "(Tw) National Taxation Bureau, local branch of the Ministry of Finance 財政部|财政部[Cai2 zheng4 bu4]"); 税收 (shuì shōu, "taxation"); 纳税人 (nà shuì rén, "taxpayer"); 税务 (shuì wù, "taxation services"); 纳税 (nà shuì, "to pay taxes"). There are over 77 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 税 (shuì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shuì: 水 (water), 睡 (to sleep). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 税 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 税 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.