(sòng): the Song dynasty (960–1279), Song of the Southern Dynasties (420–479) 南朝宋

(sòng) is a Chinese character meaning “the song dynasty (960–1279).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #989 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a building 宀 made out of wood 木. Its radical form (roof) appears in many related characters such as (, guest, customer), (jiā, home, family), (, it).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. the Song dynasty (960–1279)
  2. Song of the Southern Dynasties (420–479) 南朝宋

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA building 宀 made out of wood 木

Decomposition: ⿱宀木 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
lǚ sòng dǎoLuzon Island, north Philippines
sòng dàiSong dynasty (960-1279)
sòng cháoSong Dynasty (960-1279)
běi sòng sì dà bù shūFour great compilations of Northern Song dynasty, namely: Extensive records of the Taiping era (978) 太平廣記|太平广记, Imper...
sòng sì dà shūFour great compilations of Northern Song dynasty, namely: Extensive records of the Taiping era (978) 太平廣記|太平广记, Imper...
sòng sì jiāfour famous Song calligraphers, namely: Su Shi 蘇軾|苏轼[Su1 Shi4], Huang Tingjian 黃庭堅|黄庭坚[Huang2 Ting2 jian1], Mi Fu 米芾[...
táng sòng bā dà jiāthe eight giants of Tang and Song prose, esp. involved in the Classics movement 古文運動|古文运动[gu3 wen2 yun4 dong4], namel...
sòng gān jiéSongkran (Thai New Year festival)
liú sòng shí dàiSong of the Southern dynasties (420-479), with capital at Nanjing
sòng xiāng gōngDuke Xiang of Song (reigned 650-637 BC), sometimes considered one of the Five Hegemons 春秋五霸
liǎng sòngthe Song dynasty (960-1279)
sòng tǐMincho
sòng báiSong Bai (936-1012), Northern Song literary man
nán cháo sòngSong of the Southern dynasties (420-479), with capital at Nanjing
sòng wǔ dìEmperor Wu of Song (363-422), personal name Liu Yu 劉裕|刘裕[Liu2 Yu4], founder of Song of the Southern dynasties 劉宋|刘宋[L...
39
Total compounds
59
As first character
23
As last character
18
As middle character

appears in 39 compound words: 59 as the first character, 23 as the last, and 18 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.

cháo
0.47039,594 co-occurrences
zōng
0.46837,968 co-occurrences
líng
0.4586,318 co-occurrences
táng
0.43015,834 co-occurrences
juǎn
0.42925,248 co-occurrences
nán
0.40253,994 co-occurrences
qìng
0.3927,272 co-occurrences
jiàn
0.3882,850 co-occurrences
huī
0.3885,538 co-occurrences
rén
0.3819,030 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

Lǚsòng HǎixiáHSK 7+

Luzon Strait

Showing 1 of 2 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

了解字的来源,有助于理解中国文化。

le xiè sòng zì de lái yuán , yǒu zhù yú lǐ xiè zhōng guó wén huā .

Understanding the origins of the character "宋" helps to comprehend Chinese culture.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

高宗赐岳飞书信 让白先勇想起蒋中正

sòng gāo zōng cì yuè fēi shū xìn ràng bái xiān yǒng xiǎng qǐ 蒋 zhōng zhèng

Song Gaozong's letter to Yue Fei reminded Bai Xianyong of Jiang Zhongzheng

東森新聞Feb 2026

WBC/费仔返台随中华队练球! 晟睿补龙仔空缺

W B C fèi zǐ fǎn tái suí zhōng huá duì liàn qiú ! sòng 晟 睿 bǔ lóng zǐ kōng quē

WBC/Fei Zai returns to Taiwan to practice with the Chinese team! Song Shengrui fills the vacancy of Longzai

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

经典赛/中华队第30人由晟睿递补 曾豪驹感谢名单外球员

jīng diǎn sài zhōng huá duì dì 3 0 rén yóu sòng 晟 睿 dì bǔ céng háo 驹 gǎn xiè míng dān wài qiú yuán

The 30th man of the classic/Chinese team was replaced by Song Shengrui Zeng Haoju thanked the players off the list

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

经典赛/王贞治直击开轰拍手点头 晟睿连两天获关注超开心

jīng diǎn sài wáng zhēn zhì zhí jī kāi hōng pāi shǒu diǎn tóu sòng 晟 睿 lián liǎng tiān huò guān zhù chāo kāi xīn

Classic/Wang Zhenzhi directly hit the bombardment and clapped his hands and nodded, and Song Shengrui was super happy to receive attention for two days in a row

百度新闻Feb 2026

杭州一步行街被指写错北诗人名字,“晁冲之”写成“..

háng zhōu yī bù háng jiē bèi zhǐ xiě cuò běi sòng shī rén míng zì , 晁 chōng zhī xiě chéng . .

A pedestrian street in Hangzhou was accused of miswriting the name of a poet of the Northern Song Dynasty, and "Chao Chongzhi" was written as ".

Tatoeba

这两本都是本。

Zhè liǎng běn dōu shì Sòng běn.

Both of these are Song Dynasty block-printed editions.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced sòng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 宋 (sòng) mean in Chinese?
宋 (sòng) primarily means "the song dynasty (960–1279)." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #989 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 宋 have?
宋 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 宋?
The radical associated with 宋 is 宀 (roof). This radical appears in many characters related to roof.
What are the components of 宋?
宋 is composed of: 宀 (structural), 木 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱宀木 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 宋?
Common words with 宋 include: 吕宋岛 (lǚ sòng dǎo, "Luzon Island, north Philippines"); 宋代 (sòng dài, "Song dynasty (960-1279)"); 宋朝 (sòng cháo, "Song Dynasty (960-1279)"); 北宋四大部书 (běi sòng sì dà bù shū, "Four great compilations of Northern Song dynasty, namely: Extensive records of the Taiping era (978) 太平廣記|太平广记, Imper..."); 宋四大书 (sòng sì dà shū, "Four great compilations of Northern Song dynasty, namely: Extensive records of the Taiping era (978) 太平廣記|太平广记, Imper..."). There are over 39 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 宋 (sòng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation sòng: 松 (pine, loose), 耸 (to excite), 讼 (litigation), 诵 (to read aloud), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 宋 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 宋 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.