朔 (shuò): beginning, first day of lunar month, north

朔 (shuò) is a Chinese character meaning “beginning.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 屰 (structural) and 月 (phonetic). It ranks #3811 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 朔 moon. Its radical form 月 (moon) appears in many related characters such as 月 (yuè, moon, month), 有 (yǒu, to have), 服 (fú, clothes, serve).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. beginning
  2. first day of lunar month
  3. north

Etymology & Origin

朔

pictophoneticmoon

Decomposition: ⿰屰月 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
扑朔迷离phrasepū shuò mí líimpossible to unravel
朔望nounshuò wàngthe new moon
朔城区shuò chéng qūShuocheng, a district of Shuozhou City 朔州市, Shanxi
朔州市shuò zhōu shìShuozhou, prefecture-level city in Shanxi Province 山西省
正朔zhēng shuòfirst day of the first lunar month
朔日shuò rìfirst day of the lunar month
朔月nounshuò yuènew moon
月朔yuè shuòthe first day of each month
朔望潮shuò wàng cháospring tide (biggest tide, at new moon or full moon)
朔风shuò fēngnorth wind
王朔wáng shuòWang Shuo (1958-), Chinese writer, director and actor
朔城shuò chéngsee 朔城區|朔城区
阳朔县yáng shuò xiànYangshuo, a county in Guilin City 桂林市, Guangxi
阳朔yáng shuòsee 陽朔縣|阳朔县
朔州proper-nounshuò zhōusee 朔州市
18
Total compounds
56
As first character
33
As last character
11
As middle character

朔 appears in 18 compound words: 56 as the first character, 33 as the last, and 11 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

扑朔迷离pūshuòmílí

confusing; bewildering

phrase

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·生活Sep 2026

每个月的初一一定要是朔日。

měi gè yuè de chū yī yī dìng yào shì shuò rì .

The first day of each month must be the new moon.

IT之家Sep 2026

后者如今希望打造系列“迄今最出色的游戏”,而光环工作室的未来则变得扑朔迷离。

hòu zhě rú jīn xī wàng dǎ zào xì liè qì jīn zuì chū sè de yóu xì , ér guāng huán gōng zuò shì de wèi lái zé biàn dé pū shuò mí lí .

The latter now hopes to create "the best game in the series to date," while the future of Halo Studios remains uncertain.

中国新闻网·生活Sep 2026

安吉、阳朔、平潭、婺源、应县等“宝藏小城”跻身旅游圈顶流。

ān jí , yáng shuò , píng tán , wù yuán , yīng xiàn děng bǎo zàng xiǎo chéng 跻 shēn lǚ yóu quān dǐng liú .

"Hidden gem" towns such as Anji, Yangshuo, Pingtan, Wuyuan, and Yingxian have risen to the top of the tourism scene.

爱范儿Aug 2026

今年峰值恰逢朔月,月光干扰很小,北半球大部分地区都具备较好的观测条件。

jīn nián fēng zhí qià féng shuò yuè , yuè guāng gān rǎo hěn xiǎo , běi bàn qiú dà bù fēn dì qū dōu jù bèi jiào hǎo de guān cè tiáo jiàn .

This year's peak coincides with a new moon, so there will be minimal interference from moonlight, and observing conditions will be favorable across most of the Northern Hemisphere.

少数派Jul 2026

当天晚上到朔州古城附近住两晚,在朔州古城里看看崇福寺。

dāng tiān wǎn shàng dào shuò zhōu gǔ chéng fù jìn zhù liǎng wǎn , zài shuò zhōu gǔ chéng lǐ kàn kàn chóng fú sì .

That evening, I stayed near the Shuozhou Ancient City for two nights and visited Chongfu Temple inside the ancient city.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 月 (moon) component

月 Radical Family — Characters sharing the moon radical

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 朔 (shuò) mean in Chinese?
朔 (shuò) primarily means "beginning." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3811 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 朔 and 南?
朔 (shuò) and 南 (nán) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 朔 (north) vs 南 (south).
How many strokes does 朔 have?
朔 is written with 10 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 朔?
The radical associated with 朔 is 月 (moon). This radical appears in many characters related to moon.
What are the components of 朔?
朔 is composed of: 屰 (structural), 月 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰屰月 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 朔?
Common words with 朔 include: 扑朔迷离 (pū shuò mí lí, "impossible to unravel"); 朔望 (shuò wàng, "the new moon"); 朔城区 (shuò chéng qū, "Shuocheng, a district of Shuozhou City 朔州市, Shanxi"); 朔州市 (shuò zhōu shì, "Shuozhou, prefecture-level city in Shanxi Province 山西省"); 正朔 (zhēng shuò, "first day of the first lunar month"). There are over 18 compound words containing this character.
Is 朔 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 朔 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 朔 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.