穗 (suì): abbr. for Guangzhou 廣州|广州, ear of grain, tassel, fringe

穗 (suì) is a Chinese character meaning “ear of grain.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 禾 (semantic) and 惠 (phonetic). It ranks #4023 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 穗 grain. Its radical form 禾 (grain) appears in many related characters such as 种 (zhǒng, seed), 科 (kē, branch of study), 稍 (shāo, somewhat).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. abbr. for Guangzhou 廣州|广州
  2. ear of grain
  3. tassel
  4. fringe

Etymology & Origin

穗

pictophoneticgrain

Decomposition: ⿰禾惠 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
麦穗nounmài suìear of wheat
稻穗noundào suìrice ear
金头穗鹛jīn tóu suì méi(bird species of China) golden babbler (Cyanoderma chrysaeum)
黑头穗鹛hēi tóu suì méi(bird species of China) grey-throated babbler (Stachyris nigriceps)
红头穗鹛hóng tóu suì méi(bird species of China) rufous-capped babbler (Cyanoderma ruficeps)
三穗县sān suì xiànSansui, a county in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture 黔東南苗族侗族自治州|黔东南苗族侗族自治州[Qian2 dong1 nan2 Miao2 zu2 ...
果穗guǒ suìear (of corn or sorghum etc)
三穗proper-nounsān suìsee 三穗縣|三穗县
齐眉穗儿qí méi suì rbangs (hair)
接穗nounjiē suìscion (branch or bud that is grafted onto rootstock)
红额穗鹛hóng é suì méi(bird species of China) rufous-fronted babbler (Cyanoderma rufifrons)
黑颏穗鹛hēi kē suì méi(bird species of China) black-chinned babbler (Cyanoderma pyrrhops)
弄岗穗鹛nòng gǎng suì méi(bird species of China) Nonggang babbler (Stachyris nonggangensis)
抽穗chōu suì(of cereal crops) to put forth ears
谷穗noungǔ suìear of grain
20
Total compounds
10
As first character
45
As last character
45
As middle character

穗 appears in 20 compound words: 10 as the first character, 45 as the last, and 45 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·体育Sep 2026

爱知·名古屋亚运会开幕式将于9月19日在名古屋的瑞穗公园田径场举行。

ài zhī míng gǔ wū yà yùn huì kāi mù shì jiāng yú 9 yuè 1 9 rì zài míng gǔ wū de ruì suì gōng yuán tián jìng chǎng jǔ xíng .

The opening ceremony of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games will be held on September 19 at the Mizuho Park Track and Field Stadium in Nagoya.

少数派Aug 2026

但菜穗子收到了一封哥哥寄来的明信片,拜托她调查一下“玛丽亚何时回家”这件事。

dàn cài suì zǐ shōu dào le yī fēng gē gē jì lái de míng xìn piàn , bài tuō tā diào chá yī xià mǎ lì yà hé shí huí jiā zhè jiàn shì .

But Saeko received a postcard from her brother, asking her to find out “when Maria is coming home.”

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

一帧藏百年匠心:《中国动画100年》专场推介在穗举行

yī zhēn zàng bǎi nián jiàng xīn : zhōng guó dòng huà 1 0 0 nián zhuān chǎng tuī jiè zài suì jǔ xíng

A Century of Craftsmanship in a Single Frame: Special Presentation on “100 Years of Chinese Animation” Held in Guangzhou

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

“芒”字本义指草尖、麦穗顶端的细刺锋芒。

máng zì běn yì zhǐ cǎo jiān , mài suì dǐng duān de xì cì fēng máng .

The original meaning of the character “芒” refers to the sharp points at the tips of grass blades or wheat ears.

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

芒种时节,麦穗飘香,河北3300多万亩冬小麦自南向北陆续成熟。

máng zhǒng shí jié , mài suì piāo xiāng , hé běi 3 3 0 0 duō wàn mǔ dōng xiǎo mài zì nán xiàng běi lù xù chéng shú .

During the Grain in Ear solar term, the air is filled with the fragrance of wheat ears, and more than 33 million mu of winter wheat in Hebei are ripening successively from south to north.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 禾 (grain) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 穗 (suì) mean in Chinese?
穗 (suì) primarily means "ear of grain." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #4023 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 穗 have?
穗 is written with 17 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 穗?
The radical associated with 穗 is 禾 (grain). This radical appears in many characters related to grain.
What are the components of 穗?
穗 is composed of: 禾 (semantic), 惠 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰禾惠 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 穗?
Common words with 穗 include: 麦穗 (mài suì, "ear of wheat"); 稻穗 (dào suì, "rice ear"); 金头穗鹛 (jīn tóu suì méi, "(bird species of China) golden babbler (Cyanoderma chrysaeum)"); 黑头穗鹛 (hēi tóu suì méi, "(bird species of China) grey-throated babbler (Stachyris nigriceps)"); 红头穗鹛 (hóng tóu suì méi, "(bird species of China) rufous-capped babbler (Cyanoderma ruficeps)"). There are over 20 compound words containing this character.
Is 穗 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 穗 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 穗 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.