说 (shuō): to speak, to say
说 (shuō) is a Chinese character meaning “to speak, to say.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 讠 (semantic) and 兑 (phonetic). It ranks #24 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 说 speech. Its radical form 讠 (speech) appears in many related characters such as 认 (rèn, to recognize, to admit), 记 (jì, to remember, to record), 识 (shí, to know, knowledge).
Definitions
- to speak, to say
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 说 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 说
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 说话verb | shuō huà | to speak | 1 |
| 听说verb | tīng shuō | to hear (sth said) | 3 |
| 说明verb/noun | shuō míng | to explain | 4 |
| 再说verb/conjunction | zài shuō | to say again | 4 |
| 说服verb | shuō fú | to persuade | 5 |
| 说法noun | shuō fǎ | to expound Buddhist teachings | 4 |
| 说不定verb/adverb | shuō bu dìng | can't say for sure | 5 |
| 小说noun | xiǎo shuō | novel | 4 |
| 传说verb/noun | chuán shuō | legend | 5 |
| 据说verb | jù shuō | it is said that | 5 |
| 说明书noun | shuō míng shū | (technical) manual | 4 |
| 解说verb | jiě shuō | to explain (verbally) | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 说谎verb | shuō huǎng | to lie |
| 说实话 | shuō shí huà | to speak the truth |
| 也就是说phrase | yě jiù shì shuō | in other words |
| 胡说verb | hú shuō | to talk nonsense |
| 比如说adverb | bǐ rú shuō | for example |
| 说说 | shuō shuo | to say sth |
| 说了算verb | shuō le suàn | to have the final say |
| 胡说八道 | hú shuō bā dào | to talk rubbish |
| 实话实说 | shí huà shí shuō | to tell the truth |
| 说来话长 | shuō lái huà cháng | start explaining and it's a long story (idiom) |
| 说笑verb | shuō xiào | to chat and laugh |
| 演说verb | yǎn shuō | speech |
| 说唱noun | shuō chàng | speaking and singing, as in various forms of storytelling such as 彈詞|弹词 and 相聲|相声 |
| 话说interjection | huà shuō | It is said that ... (at the start of a narrative) |
| 瞎说verb | xiā shuō | to talk drivel |
说 appears in 117 compound words: 39 as the first character, 59 as the last, and 2 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 说 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (40)
to allow no expectation; without listening to somebody's protests; despite objections
(idiom) to try one's very best to persuade sb; to reason with sb in every way possible
Showing 12 of 40 idioms containing 说.
Example Sentences
老板说这个项目必须在月底前完成，时间很紧。
Lǎobǎn shuō zhè gè xiàngmù bìxū zài yuè dǐ qián wánchéng, shíjiān hěn jǐn.
The boss said this project must be completed by the end of the month; time is tight.
美贸易代表:尚无任何国家说退出关税协议
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
...观时评|“马上”体祝福里的民生期盼·新世说
. . . guàn shí píng mǎ shàng tǐ zhù fú lǐ de mín shēng qī pàn xīn shì shuō
... Commentary | Immediately, "the people's livelihood expectations in the blessing of the new world said
...间谍通过“垃圾桶交接加密手机”:国安同志说..
. . . jiān dié tōng guò lā jī tǒng jiāo jiē jiā mì shǒu jī guó ān tóng zhì shuō . .
... Spy handed over encrypted cell phone through trash can: National Security comrade said...
东西问丨全球政要马年“集体说马” 背后藏着三重文化..
dōng xī wèn 丨 quán qiú zhèng yāo mǎ nián jí tī shuō mǎ bēi hòu zàng zhe sān chóng wén huā . .
The world's top politicians are talking about horses in the Year of the Horse, a trio of cultural...
是吗？那说来听听啊！
Shì ma? nà shuō lái tīng tīng ā!
Well, say it, then!
这儿有人说日语吗？
Zhèr yǒu rén shuō Rìyǔ ma?
Does anyone here speak Japanese?
你可以说慢一点吗？
Nǐ kěyǐ shuō màn yīdiǎn ma?
Could you speak more slowly?
你竟敢这样和我说话？
Nǐ jìnggǎn zhèyàng hé wǒ shuōhuà?
How dare you speak like that to me?
能说给我听你的地址吗？
Néng shuō gěi wǒ tīng nǐ de dìzhǐ ma?
Can you tell me your address?
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 讠 (speech) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 说 (shuō) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 说 and 脱?
How many strokes does 说 have?
What is the radical of 说?
What are the components of 说?
What are common words containing 说?
What characters sound the same as 说 (shuō)?
Is 说 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 说 with real-time feedback
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