搜 (sōu): to search, (bound form) to collect, to gather
搜 (sōu) is a Chinese character meaning “to search.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 叟 (phonetic). It ranks #1554 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 搜 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 search
- (bound form) to collect
- to gather
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 搜 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 搜
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 搜查 | sōu chá | to search |
| 搜寻 | sōu xún | to search |
| 搜捕 | sōu bǔ | to hunt and arrest (fugitives) |
| 搜身 | sōu shēn | to do a body search |
| 搜索引擎 | sōu suǒ yǐn qíng | search engine |
| 搜刮 | sōu guā | to rake in (money) |
| 搜罗 | sōu luó | to gather |
| 搜括 | sōu kuò | see 搜刮[sou1 gua1] |
| 搜神记 | sōu shén jì | In Search of the Supernatural, compilation of legends about spirits, ghosts and other supernatural phenomena, written... |
| 全文搜索 | quán wén sōu suǒ | full-text search |
| 上热搜 | shàng rè sōu | (Internet) (of a search query) to be trending |
| 搜查令 | sōu chá lìng | search warrant |
| 情搜 | qíng sōu | intelligence gathering |
| 人肉搜索 | rén ròu sōu suǒ | to crowdsource information about sb or sth (typically as a form of vigilantism resulting in doxing) |
| 搜索队 | sōu suǒ duì | search party |
搜 appears in 34 compound words: 79 as the first character, 12 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 搜 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (2)
Example Sentences
搜照镜子,整理一下自己的仪容。
sōu zhào jìng zǐ , zhěng lǐ yī xià zì jǐ de yí róng .
Look in the mirror and tidy up your appearance.
长和旗下PPC传遭巴拿马检察官突击搜查 路透..与港口争议无关
cháng hé qí xià P P C chuán zāo bā ná mǎ jiǎn chá guān tū jī sōu chá lù tòu . . yǔ gǎng kǒu zhēng yì wú guān
Changhe's PPC was rumored to have been raided by Panamanian prosecutors Reuters: It has nothing to do with port disputes
...变“寻犬侦探” 大品牌新功能让邻居镜头组搜救网(有片)
. . . biàn xún quǎn zhēn tàn dà pǐn pái xīn gōng néng ràng lín jū jìng tóu zǔ sōu jiù wǎng ( yǒu piàn )
... Become a "dog detective" new feature of a big brand to let the neighbor lens group search and rescue network (with a video)
遇拖吊业者坐地起价 律师:先搜证自保
yù tuō diào yè zhě zuò dì qǐ jià lǜ shī : xiān sōu zhèng zì bǎo
When the towing industry sits on the ground and raises the price Lawyer: First collect evidence to protect yourself
Reddit 将商品卡片带入搜索结果,让社区推荐转化为实际购买行为
R e d d i t jiāng shāng pǐn kǎ piàn dài rù sōu suǒ jié guǒ , ràng shè qū tuī jiàn zhuǎn huà wéi shí jì gòu mǎi háng wéi
Reddit brings product cards into search results, allowing community recommendations to turn into actual purchases
她退货国家地理杂志服饰“控被肉搜IG” 业者回应了
tā tuì huò guó jiā dì lǐ zá zhì fú shì kòng bèi ròu sōu I G yè zhě huí yīng le
She returned National Geographic magazine clothing "accused of being searched by meat IG" The industry responded
罗德里格搜寻房间。
Luó Délǐ gé sōuxún fángjiān.
Rodrigo searched the room.
仔细搜寻敌人可能藏身的灌木丛。
Zǐxì sōuxún dírén kěnéng cángshēn de guànmùcóng.
Investigate thoroughly the bushes where the enemy may be hiding.
列昂尼德搜寻了网际网路。
Liè áng ní dé sōuxún le wǎngjìwǎnglù.
Leonid searched the Internet.
警方正在搜寻一名逃犯。
Jǐngfāng zhèngzài sōuxún yī míng táofàn.
The police is searching for an escaped prisoner.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 搜 (sōu) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 搜 and 瘦?
How many strokes does 搜 have?
What is the radical of 搜?
What are the components of 搜?
What are common words containing 搜?
What characters sound the same as 搜 (sōu)?
Is 搜 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 搜 with real-time feedback
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