松 (sōng): pine, loose

松 (sōng) is a Chinese character meaning “pine, loose.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 公 (phonetic). It ranks #895 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 松 tree. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. pine, loose

Etymology & Origin

松

pictophonetictree

Decomposition: ⿰木公 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 松

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
放松verbfàng sōngto relax4
轻松adjectiveqīng sōnglight4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
松鼠nounsōng shǔsquirrel
松开verbsōng kāito release
马拉松nounmǎ lā sōng(loanword) marathon
松子nounsōng zǐpine nut
松手verbsōng shǒuto relinquish one's grip
尼克松proper-nounní kè sōngRichard Nixon (1913–1994), US president 1969–1974
松树nounsōng shùpine
宽松adjectivekuān sōngspacious
松绑verbsōng bǎngto untie
松弛adjectivesōng chíto relax
蓬松adjectivepéng sōngfluffy
松懈verbsōng xièto relax
松散adjectivesōng santo relax
松果nounsōng guǒpine cone
松口proper-nounsōng kǒuto let go of sth held in one's mouth
100
Total compounds
60
As first character
31
As last character
9
As middle character

松 appears in 100 compound words: 60 as the first character, 31 as the last, and 9 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 松 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

弛chí
0.5351,029 co-occurrences
绑bǎng
0.50621 co-occurrences
饺jiǎo
0.48112 co-occurrences
井jǐng
0.4749,944 co-occurrences
轻qīng
0.4685,417 co-occurrences
浦pǔ
0.4676,024 co-occurrences
鼠shǔ
0.4544,235 co-occurrences
竹zhú
0.4345,558 co-occurrences
江jiāng
0.42814,074 co-occurrences
劲jìn
0.416648 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

稀松平常xī sōng píng chángHSK 7+

nothing special; ordinary

phrase

Showing 1 of 2 idioms containing 松.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这座山上长满了松树,冬天的时候景色特别美。

Zhè zuò shān shang zhǎngmǎn le sōngshù, dōngtiān de shíhou jǐngsè tèbié měi.

This mountain is covered with pine trees, and the scenery is especially beautiful in winter.

99 健康网Feb 2026

男生小便后甩一甩会不会导致尿失禁?盆底肌松弛者需谨慎吗

nán shēng xiǎo biàn hòu shuǎi yī shuǎi huì bù huì dǎo zhì niào shī jīn ? pén de jī sōng chí zhě xū jǐn shèn ma

Will a boy's throw after urinating cause urinary incontinence? Should people with loose pelvic floor muscles be cautious?

LtnFeb 2026

...菲连两年春晚开唱!粉丝敲碗办演唱会 宽姐松口了

. . . 菲 lián liǎng nián chūn wǎn kāi chàng ! fěn sī qiāo wǎn bàn yǎn chàng huì kuān jiě sōng kǒu le

... The Spring Festival Gala has been sung for two consecutive years! Fans knocked on the bowl to hold a concert, and Sister Kuan let go

WorldjournalFeb 2026

冬奥/越野滑雪收官战:瑞典名将安德松女子50公里夺金

dōng ào yuè yě huá xuě shōu guān zhàn : ruì diǎn míng jiāng ān dé sōng nǚ zǐ 5 0 gōng lǐ duó jīn

Winter Olympics/Cross-country Skiing Finale: Sweden's Andersson won gold in the women's 50km

百度新闻Feb 2026

未必是坏事!南马降级成精英标 马拉松将回归体验本质

wèi bì shì huài shì ! nán mǎ jiàng jí chéng jīng yīng biāo mǎ lā sōng jiāng huí guī tǐ yàn běn zhì

It's not necessarily a bad thing! South Malaysia is relegated to an elite marathon and will return to the essence of experience

百度新闻Feb 2026

宁远县城管局:禁燃禁放不松懈 守护平安祥和年

nìng yuǎn xiàn chéng guǎn jú jīn rán jīn fàng bù sōng xiè shǒu hù píng ān xiáng hé nián

Ningyuan County Urban Management Bureau: ban on burning and discharge of no slack guarding the peace and tranquility of the year

Tatoeba

每年滨松有风筝节。

Měinián Bīnsōng yǒu fēngzhēng jié.

Each year Hamamatsu has a kite festival.

Tatoeba

我奶奶患有骨质疏松症。

Wǒ nǎinai huànyǒu gǔzhìshūsōngzhèng.

My grandmother suffers from osteoporosis.

Tatoeba

请不要做任何有损松野家族名声的事!

Qǐng bù yào zuò rènhé yǒu sǔn sōngyě jiāzú míngshēng de shì!

Please don't do anything that would besmirch the Matsuno family name!

Tatoeba

最初的旗袍是宽松的。

Zuì chū de qípáo shì kuānsōng de.

The original qipao was wide and loose.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 木 (tree) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced sōng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 松 (sōng) mean in Chinese?
松 (sōng) primarily means "pine, loose." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #895 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 松 and 翁?
松 (sōng) and 翁 (wēng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 木 vs 羽 (same 公 component).
How many strokes does 松 have?
松 is written with 8 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 松?
The radical associated with 松 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 松?
松 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 公 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木公 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 松?
Common words with 松 include: 放松 (fàng sōng, "to relax"); 轻松 (qīng sōng, "light"); 松鼠 (sōng shǔ, "squirrel"); 松开 (sōng kāi, "to release"); 马拉松 (mǎ lā sōng, "(loanword) marathon"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 松 (sōng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation sōng: 讼 (litigation), 颂 (ode), 送 (to send, to give), 宋 (the Song dynasty (960–1279)), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 松 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 松 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 松 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.