(sǒng): to excite, to raise up, to shrug

(sǒng) is a Chinese character meaning “to excite.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #2115 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, ear. Its radical form (ear) appears in many related characters such as (wén, to hear, to smell), (zhí, job, duty), (lián, connect, unite).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to excite
  2. to raise up
  3. to shrug

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticear

Decomposition: ⿱从耳 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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
sǒng jiānto shrug one's shoulders
sǒng rén tīng wénto sensationalize (idiom)
gāo sǒngerect
wēi yán sǒng tīngfrightening words to scare people (idiom)
sǒng lìto stand tall
gāo sǒng rù yúntall and erect, reaching through the clouds (idiom)
wēi cí sǒng tīngto startle sb with scary tale
sǒng dòngto shake (a part of one's body)
8
Total compounds
50
As first character
13
As last character
38
As middle character

appears in 8 compound words: 50 as the first character, 13 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.

tīng
0.524924 co-occurrences
jiān
0.521570 co-occurrences
qiào
0.488144 co-occurrences
zhì
0.462150 co-occurrences
wén
0.461714 co-occurrences
gāo
0.4253,210 co-occurrences
mài
0.410150 co-occurrences
dǒu
0.40148 co-occurrences
dǐng
0.384216 co-occurrences
qiáng
0.382150 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

gāosǒngrùyúnHSK 7+

to reach to the sky; to tower into the clouds

phrase
sǒngréntīngwénHSK 7+

deliberately exaggerating so as to create a sensation

phrase
wēiyánsǒngtīngHSK 7+

to make exaggerated and frightening statements to scare people

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gě sǒng zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

The character "耸" carries different meanings in classical Chinese.

少数派Aug 2026

跑姿得体就行,不要弯背,不要肩。

pǎo zī dé tǐ jiù háng , bù yāo wān bèi , bù yāo sǒng jiān .

Just make sure your running form is proper—don't hunch your back or shrug your shoulders.

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

专家普遍认为,《簪花仕女图》卷中所呈现出的女子高发髻,使用了这种义髻。

zhuān jiā pǔ biàn rèn wéi , 簪 huā shì nǚ tú juǎn zhōng suǒ chéng xiàn chū de nǚ zǐ gāo sǒng fā 髻 , shǐ yòng le zhè zhǒng yì 髻 .

Experts generally agree that the high buns worn by the women depicted in the *Scroll of Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers* were created using this type of artificial bun.

中国新闻网·体育May 2026

当晚,灯光明亮,岩壁高,赵一程与队友龙见国“顶峰相见”。

dāng wǎn , dēng guāng míng liàng , yán bì gāo sǒng , zhào yī chéng yǔ duì yǒu lóng jiàn guó dǐng fēng xiāng jiàn .

That evening, under the bright lights and against the towering rock face, Zhao Yicheng and his teammate Long Jianguo “met at the summit.”

爱范儿May 2026

直到生成式 AI 拆掉了视频制作高的门槛,普通人才有了比肩大师的工具。

zhí dào shēng chéng shì A I chāi diào le shì pín zhì zuò gāo sǒng de mén jiàn , pǔ tōng rén cái yǒu le bǐ jiān dà shī de gōng jù .

It wasn’t until generative AI broke down the high barriers to video production that ordinary people finally had the tools to rival the masters.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 耳 (ear) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced sǒng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 耸 (sǒng) mean in Chinese?
耸 (sǒng) primarily means "to excite." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2115 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 耸 and 下?
耸 (sǒng) and 下 (xià) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 耸 (up) vs 下 (down).
How many strokes does 耸 have?
耸 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 耸?
The radical associated with 耸 is 耳 (ear). This radical appears in many characters related to ear.
What are the components of 耸?
耸 is composed of: 从 (phonetic), 耳 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱从耳 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 耸?
Common words with 耸 include: 耸肩 (sǒng jiān, "to shrug one's shoulders"); 耸人听闻 (sǒng rén tīng wén, "to sensationalize (idiom)"); 高耸 (gāo sǒng, "erect"); 危言耸听 (wēi yán sǒng tīng, "frightening words to scare people (idiom)"); 耸立 (sǒng lì, "to stand tall"). There are over 8 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 耸 (sǒng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation sǒng: 送 (to send, to give), 松 (pine, loose), 宋 (the Song dynasty (960–1279)), 讼 (litigation), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 耸 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 耸 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.