撕 (sī): to tear
撕 (sī) is a Chinese character meaning “to tear.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 斯 (phonetic). It ranks #2267 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 撕 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).
Definitions
- to tear
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 撕 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 撕裂 | sī liè | to tear |
| 撕碎 | sī suì | to tear to shreds |
| 撕破 | sī pò | to tear |
| 撕毁 | sī huǐ | to tear up |
| 撕破脸皮 | sī pò liǎn pí | see 撕破臉|撕破脸[si1 po4 lian3] |
| 撕破脸 | sī pò liǎn | to have an acrimonious falling-out |
| 撕心裂肺 | sī xīn liè fèi | (idiom) in unbearable anguish |
| 撕掉 | sī diào | to tear out (and throw away) |
| 撕票 | sī piào | lit. to tear the ticket |
| 撕逼 | sī bī | (slang) (lit.) to tear cunt |
| 撕烂 | sī làn | to tear up |
| 撕咬 | sī yǎo | to tear at (with the teeth, like one animal attacking another) |
| 撕扯 | sī chě | to tear apart |
撕 appears in 13 compound words: 100 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 0 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 撕 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
撕裂纸张，声音刺耳。
Sī liè zhǐzhāng, shēngyīn cì'ěr.
Tearing paper makes a harsh sound.
马英九开撕亲信喊“六亲不认”!萧旭岑哽咽暗指失智懒...
mǎ yīng jiǔ kāi sī qīn xìn hǎn liù qīn bù rèn ! xiāo xù 岑 gěng yān àn zhǐ shī zhì lǎn . . .
Ma Ying-jeou lashes out at his close aide, accusing him of "betraying even his own kin"! Xiao Xucen chokes up, implying the aide is senile and lazy...
火云邪神百日难入土?梁小龙徒弟开撕遗孀
huǒ yún xié shén bǎi rì nán rù tǔ ? liáng xiǎo lóng tú dì kāi sī yí 孀
"The Evil God of Fire Cloud Can't Be Buried for 100 Days?" Liang Xiaolong's Disciple Clashes with His Widow
绿扁帽当到反恐首长!肯特一封辞职信 如何撕裂川普阵营
lǜ piān mào dāng dào fǎn kǒng shǒu cháng ! kěn tè yī fēng cí zhí xìn rú hé sī liè chuān pǔ zhèn yíng
The "Green Beret" Becomes Counterterrorism Chief! How Kent’s Resignation Letter Has Divided the Trump Camp
新闻眼/卢秀燕大动作 替党撕反美标签
xīn wén yǎn 卢 xiù yān dà dòng zuò tì dǎng sī fǎn měi biāo qiān
News Eye/Lu Xiuyan's big move to tear up the anti-American label for the party
土耳其綁架案—中國商人遭撕票 傳10跨海殺人同胞落網—有片
tǔ ěr qí 綁 jià àn zhōng 國 shāng rén zāo sī piào 傳 kuà hǎi 殺 rén tóng bāo luò 網 yǒu piàn
Turkey Kidnapping Case—Chinese Businessman Killed for Ransom; Reportedly 10 Compatriots Arrested for Transnational Murder—Video Available
玛丽把报纸撕碎了。
Mǎlì bǎ bàozhǐ sīsuì le.
Mary tore up the newspaper.
他把信撕成碎片，扔出了窗外。
Tā bǎ xìn sī chéng suìpiàn, rēng chū le chuāng wài.
He tore up his letter into small bits and threw them out the window.
这本书的头三页被人撕掉了。
Zhè běn shū de tóu sān yè bèi rén sīdiào le.
Someone has ripped out the first three pages of this book.
看了信之后，她把它撕成碎片。
Kàn le xìn zhīhòu, tā bǎ tā sī chéng suìpiàn.
After she had read the letter, she tore it to pieces.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is 撕 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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