(suǐ): (bound form) bone marrow, (fig.) innermost part, (botany) pith

(suǐ) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) bone marrow.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic). It ranks #2635 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, bone. Its radical form (bone) appears in many related characters such as (, bone).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: bone22 strokesFrequency #2635 semantic

Definitions

  1. (bound form) bone marrow
  2. (fig.) innermost part
  3. (botany) pith

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticbone

Components:semantic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21

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
gǔ suǐbone marrow
jīng suǐmarrow
jǐ suǐspinal cord
nǎo suǐbrain tissue
jǐ suǐ yánmyelitis
yá suǐtooth pulp
yán suǐ(anatomy) medulla oblongata
gǔ suǐ zēng shēng yì cháng zōng hé zhēngmyelodysplastic syndrome (MDS)
duō fā xìng gǔ suǐ liú(medicine) multiple myeloma
suǐ guò yǎng huà wù méimyeloperoxidase (aka MPO) (molecular biology)
zhēn suǐessence
hóng gǔ suǐred bone marrow
suǐ jiépith knot (in timber)
shén suǐlit. spirit and marrow
huáng gǔ suǐyellow bone marrow
26
Total compounds
15
As first character
58
As last character
27
As middle character

appears in 26 compound words: 15 as the first character, 58 as the last, and 27 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.

0.72410,608 co-occurrences
0.62010,536 co-occurrences
liú
0.5291,374 co-occurrences
yán
0.5282,892 co-occurrences
huī
0.4821,878 co-occurrences
jīng
0.4744,343 co-occurrences
shèn
0.437198 co-occurrences
xiàn
0.436450 co-occurrences
nǎo
0.435702 co-occurrences
shuān
0.42142 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

gǔsuǐ yízhíHSK 7+

bone marrow transplantation

noun
lún jī jiā suǐHSK 7+

lit. penetrate to the marrow (idiom); deeply affected; moved to the core

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

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

The character "髓" had different meanings in ancient Chinese.

99 健康网Apr 2026

渐冻症是什么病是啥原因引起的?脑和脊运动细胞变性

jiān dòng zhèng shì shén má bìng shì 啥 yuán yīn yǐn qǐ de ? nǎo hé jǐ suǐ yùn dòng xì bāo biàn xìng

Fx168 Finance NetworkMar 2026

...6注射液获临床试验批准,用于治疗多发性骨瘤-FX168

. . . 6 zhù shè yè huò lín chuáng shì yàn pī zhǔn , yòng yú zhì liáo duō fā xìng gǔ suǐ liú F X 1 6 8

...6 Injection has received approval for clinical trials for the treatment of multiple myeloma—FX168

99 健康网Mar 2026

...不起是什么原因引起的呢?多发性硬化损伤脊传导通路吗

. . . bù qǐ shì shén má yuán yīn yǐn qǐ de ne ? duō fā xìng yìng huà sǔn shāng jǐ suǐ chuán dǎo tōng lù ma

... What causes the insignia? Does multiple sclerosis damage spinal cord conduction pathways?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...题一定要落落长?专家:老师没有掌握命题精

. . . tí yī dìng yāo luò luò cháng ? zhuān jiā : lǎo shī méi yǒu zhǎng wò mìng tí jīng suǐ

... The question must be long? Expert: The teacher has not grasped the essence of the proposition

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

...饮掀倒闭潮 早年越洋落户港厨 依仗粤菜神守业

. . . yǐn xiān dǎo bì cháo zǎo nián yuè yáng luò hù gǎng chú yī zhàng yuè cài shén suǐ shǒu yè

... In the early years, he crossed the ocean to settle in Hong Kong kitchens and relied on the essence of Cantonese cuisine to keep his business

Tatoeba

太可惜了,你一点也不懂它的精

Tài kěxī le, nǐ yīdiǎn yě bù dǒng tā de jīngsuǐ.

It's really unfortunate. You don't understand at all its essence.

Tatoeba

个人自由是民主的精

Gèrén zìyóu shì mínzhǔ de jīngsuǐ.

Individual freedom is the soul of democracy.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the bone radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced suǐ

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 髓 (suǐ) mean in Chinese?
髓 (suǐ) primarily means "(bound form) bone marrow." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2635 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 髓 have?
髓 is written with 22 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 髓?
The radical associated with 髓 is 骨 (bone). This radical appears in many characters related to bone.
What are the components of 髓?
髓 is composed of: 骨 (semantic). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 髓?
Common words with 髓 include: 骨髓 (gǔ suǐ, "bone marrow"); 精髓 (jīng suǐ, "marrow"); 脊髓 (jǐ suǐ, "spinal cord"); 脑髓 (nǎo suǐ, "brain tissue"); 脊髓炎 (jǐ suǐ yán, "myelitis"). There are over 26 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 髓 (suǐ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation suǐ: 虽 (although), 随 (to follow), 岁 (years old), 遂 (to satisfy), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 髓 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 髓 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.