(sūn): grandson, descendant

(sūn) is a Chinese character meaning “grandson.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #994 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, simplified form of 孫; a chain 系 of descent 子. Its radical form (child) appears in many related characters such as (, son), (, letter), (xué, to learn).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. grandson
  2. descendant

Etymology & Origin

ideographicSimplified form of 孫; a chain 系 of descent 子

Decomposition: ⿰子小 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounsūn zigrandson4
nounsūn nǚson's daughter4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
wài sūndaughter's son
zǐ sūnoffspring
wài sūn nǚdaughter's daughter
ér sūndescendant
zēng sūngreat-grandson
wū sūn guóWusun kingdom of central Asia (c. 300 BC-300 AD)
sūn wù kōngSun Wukong, the Monkey King, character with supernatural powers in the novel Journey to the West 西遊記|西游记[Xi1 you2 Ji4...
zǐ zǐ sūn sūn(idiom) one's posterity
sūn dà shèngGreat-Sage Sun
hán yí nòng sūnlit. to play with one's grandchildren while eating candy (idiom)
wài sūn zi(coll.) daughter's son
míng luò sūn shānlit. to fall behind Sun Shan 孫山|孙山[Sun1 Shan1] (who came last in the imperial examination) (idiom)
yà mǎ sūnAmazon
zhǎng sūneldest grandson
yà mǎ sūn héAmazon River
68
Total compounds
46
As first character
26
As last character
28
As middle character

appears in 68 compound words: 46 as the first character, 26 as the last, and 28 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.

zhí
0.5005,250 co-occurrences
xuán
0.4989,876 co-occurrences
bèi
0.4692,304 co-occurrences
0.4423,690 co-occurrences
céng
0.42832,868 co-occurrences
shū
0.4265,430 co-occurrences
0.42062,088 co-occurrences
0.4105,472 co-occurrences
qiáo
0.400432 co-occurrences
0.398886 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

duànzǐjuésūnHSK 4+

to have no descendants

phrase
míngluòsūnshānHSK 4+

to fail an exam; to fall behind (in a competition)

phrase
Sūnzǐ BīngfǎHSK 6+

The Art of War

Yàmǎsūn HéHSK 4+

Amazon River

Yán-Huáng zǐsūnHSK 6+

descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors; the Han Chinese people; the Chinese nation

phrase
zǐzǐsūnsūnHSK 4+

generation after generation of descendants

noun
hányínòngsūnHSK 5+

to enjoy life in old age

phrase
Sūn Bìn BīngfǎHSK 6+

Sun Bin's Art of War

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字的意思与它的部首有关。

zhè gě sūn zì de yì sī yú tā de bù shǒu yǒu guān .

The meaning of the character "孙" is related to its radical.

Nownews今日新聞Mar 2026

台湾烧打鸡昔爆打安佐 韩森松口断联内幕:祝福他未来更好

tái wān shāo dǎ jī xī bào dǎ sūn ān zuǒ hán sēn sōng kǒu duàn lián nèi mù : zhù fú tā wèi lái gēng hǎo

Taiwan's roasted chicken used to beat Sun Anzuo, Han Sen let go of the inside story: I wish him a better future

English News - RthkFeb 2026

财政预算案|玉菡:“两蚊两折”4月实施 适时公布详情

cái zhèng yù suàn àn sūn yù 菡 : liǎng wén liǎng zhé 4 yuè shí shī shì shí gōng bù xiáng qíng

Budget|Sun Yuhan: "Two dollars and two discounts" will be implemented in April, and details will be announced in due course

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

几岁才叫长大?15岁获爷爷赠500万 5年后讨不回告父侵占

jī suì cái jiào cháng dà ? 1 5 suì sūn huò yé yé zèng 5 0 0 wàn 5 nián hòu tǎo bù huí gào fù qīn zhàn

At what age do you grow up? 15-year-old grandson received a gift of 5 million from his grandfather, and after 5 years, he could not return the accusation against his father for encroachment

BastillepostFeb 2026

颖莎等8名国家队球员晋级新加坡大满贯赛单...

sūn yǐng 莎 děng 8 míng guó jiā duì qiú yuán jìn jí xīn jiā pō dà mǎn guàn sài dān . . .

Sun Yingsha and other 8 national team players advanced to the Singapore Grand Slam single...

東森新聞Feb 2026

19岁少女带新欢“乔债”前男友祖三代溅血

1 9 suì shǎo nǚ dài xīn huān qiáo zhài qián nán yǒu zǔ sūn sān dài jiàn xiě

A 19-year-old girl brought her new love "Qiao Debt" to her ex-boyfriend's grandparents and grandchildren to splatter blood

Tatoeba

我的子还是个婴儿。

Wǒ de sūnzi hái shì ge yīng'ér.

My grandson is still a baby.

Tatoeba

传说彭祖是天帝的子。

Chuánshuō Péng Zǔ shì Tiāndì de sūnzi.

It is said that Peng Zu was the grandson of a celestial emperor.

Tatoeba

有一位奶奶带着小子上学。

Yǒu yī wèi nǎinai dài zhe xiǎo sūnzi shàngxué.

A grandmother is sending her grandson to school.

Tatoeba

可能我的子会是登陆火星的第一人。

Kěnéng wǒ de sūnzi huì shì dēnglù Huǒxīng de dì-yī rén.

Perhaps my grandson will be the first person to land on Mars.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced sūn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 孙 (sūn) mean in Chinese?
孙 (sūn) primarily means "grandson." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #994 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 孙 have?
孙 is written with 6 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 孙?
The radical associated with 孙 is 子 (child). This radical appears in many characters related to child.
What are the components of 孙?
孙 is composed of: 子 (structural), 小 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰子小 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 孙?
Common words with 孙 include: 孙子 (sūn zi, "grandson"); 孙女 (sūn nǚ, "son's daughter"); 外孙 (wài sūn, "daughter's son"); 子孙 (zǐ sūn, "offspring"); 外孙女 (wài sūn nǚ, "daughter's daughter"). There are over 68 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 孙 (sūn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation sūn: 损 (to decrease). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 孙 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 孙 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.