(): to seem, to appear, to resemble, similar, -like, pseudo-

() is a Chinese character meaning “to seem.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #431 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, one person 亻 resembles another. Its radical form (person) appears in many related characters such as (rén, person), (shén, what), (jīn, now).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to seem
  2. to appear
  3. to resemble
  4. similar
  5. -like
  6. pseudo-

Etymology & Origin

ideographicOne person 亻 resembles another

Decomposition: ⿰亻以 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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
adverbsì hūit seems5
particleshì deseems as if5
verblèi sìsimilar5
adjectivexiāng sìsimilar5
verbkàn sìto look as if6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
mào sìto appear to be
sì céng xiāng shídéjà vu (the experience of seeing exactly the same situation a second time)
hǎo sìto seem
jìn sìto approximate
rú jī sì kěto hunger for sth (idiom)
sì shì ér fēiapparently right but actually wrong
kù sìto strikingly resemble
róu qíng sì shuǐtender and soft as water
xiāng sì xìngresemblance
rú láng sì hǔlit. like wolves and tigers
shén sìsimilar in expression and spirit
rú huā sì yùdelicate as a flower, refined as a precious jade (idiom)
shèng sìto surpass
qià sìjust like
xíng sìsimilar in shape and appearance
48
Total compounds
23
As first character
40
As last character
38
As middle character

appears in 48 compound words: 23 as the first character, 40 as the last, and 38 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.

0.699155,656 co-occurrences
lèi
0.667230,582 co-occurrences
xiāng
0.583270,349 co-occurrences
0.56154,234 co-occurrences
0.4659,516 co-occurrences
kàn
0.46141,760 co-occurrences
mào
0.45311,095 co-occurrences
jìn
0.42855,968 co-occurrences
xíng
0.40241,208 co-occurrences
dàn
0.36444,754 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (14)

dà jiān sì zhōngHSK 7+

the most treacherous person appears the most guileless (idiom)

phrase
fēi yě shì deHSK 5+

lit. as if flying; very fast

phrase
guāngyīnsìjiànHSK 6+

Time flies like an arrow.

proverb
guīxīnsìjiànHSK 6+

to have one's heart set on returning home; to have an urge to return home

phrase
kèsìyúnláiHSK 5+

to have a lot of customers coming to a shop or business

phrase
rú huā sì yùHSK 5+

delicate as a flower, refined as a precious jade (idiom); (of a woman) exquisite

phrase
rújīsìkěHSK 6+

as if thirsting or hungering for something; with great eagerness

phrase
rúlángsìhǔHSK 6+

brutal and ferocious

phrase
sìcéngxiāngshíHSK 5+

to seem to have met before; déjà vu

phrase
sìdǒngfēidǒngHSK 5+

to not really understand; to half-understand

phrase
sìshì'érfēiHSK 5+

seemingly so, but not really; appears right, but in fact wrong; specious

phrase
sìxiàofēixiàoHSK 5+

to give a faint or forced smile

phrase

Showing 12 of 14 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这两幅画看起来很相,但仔细比较还是有区别的。

Zhè liǎng fú huà kàn qǐlai hěn xiāngsì, dàn zǐxì bǐjiào háishi yǒu qūbié de.

These two paintings look very similar, but careful comparison reveals differences.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

赞蒋万安育儿新政 蓝委指“南韩有类制度”:绿营批评苍白无力

zàn 蒋 wàn ān yù ér xīn zhèng lán wěi zhǐ nán hán yǒu lèi sì zhì dù : lǜ yíng pī píng cāng bái wú lì

Praise Jiang Wan'an's new parenting policy Blue Committee pointed out that "South Korea has a similar system": the green camp criticized it palely

美通社Feb 2026

...s 达成授权协议,致力扩大拉丁美洲生物相药的可及途径

. . . s dá chéng shòu quán xié yì , zhì lì kuò dà lā dīng měi zhōu shēng wù xiāng sì yào de kě jí tú jìng

... Authorized agreement to expand access to biosimilars in Latin America

99 健康网Feb 2026

...生小便后甩一甩是本能行为吗?婴儿期就有类反射吗

. . . shēng xiǎo biàn hòu shuǎi yī shuǎi shì běn néng háng wéi ma ? yīng ér qī jiù yǒu lèi sì fǎn shè ma

... Is it instinctive to shake it after peeing? Is there a similar reflex in infancy?

StheadlineFeb 2026

...否认做医美疗程 开心被网民指跟阿仪越来越 黄夏蕙等收遗产开老人院

. . . fǒu rèn zuò yī měi liáo chéng kāi xīn bèi wǎng mín zhǐ gēn ā yí yuè lái yuè sì huáng xià 蕙 děng shōu yí chǎn kāi lǎo rén yuàn

... Denying medical aesthetic treatment, he was happily accused by netizens of becoming more and more similar to Ah Yi, and Huang Xiahui and others received an inheritance to open a nursing home

百度新闻Feb 2026

英国男子打砸香港机场 包中还搜出疑管制药品

yīng guó nán zǐ dǎ zá xiāng gǎng jī chǎng bāo zhōng hái sōu chū yí shì guǎn zhì yào pǐn

British man vandalizes Hong Kong airport, suspected controlled substances found in his bag.

Tatoeba

地球的外形和橙子相

Dìqiú de wàixíng hé chéngzi xiāngsì.

The earth is similar to an orange in shape.

Tatoeba

交通事故的数量乎在增长。

Jiāotōng shìgù de shùliàng sìhū zài zēngzhǎng.

The number of traffic accidents seems to be on the increase.

Tatoeba

好工作乎愈来愈难找了。

Hǎo gōngzuò sìhū yùláiyù nán zhǎo le.

It seems to be becoming hard to get a good job.

Tatoeba

乎对自己的状况不满意。

Tā sìhū duì zìjǐ de zhuàngkuàng bù mǎnyì.

He does not seem pleased with his condition.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 似 (sì) mean in Chinese?
似 (sì) primarily means "to seem." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #431 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 似 have?
似 is written with 7 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 似?
The radical associated with 似 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.
What are the components of 似?
似 is composed of: 亻 (structural), 以 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻以 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 似?
Common words with 似 include: 似乎 (sì hū, "it seems"); 似的 (shì de, "seems as if"); 类似 (lèi sì, "similar"); 相似 (xiāng sì, "similar"); 貌似 (mào sì, "to appear to be"). There are over 48 compound words containing this character.
Is 似 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 似 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.