笋 (sǔn): bamboo shoot

笋 (sǔn) is a Chinese character meaning “bamboo shoot.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺮ (semantic) and 尹 (phonetic). It ranks #3666 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 笋 bamboo. Its radical form 竹 (bamboo) appears in many related characters such as 第 (dì, (prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六 "sixth")), 等 (děng, to wait for), 笑 (xiào, to laugh).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. bamboo shoot

Etymology & Origin

笋

pictophoneticbamboo

Decomposition: ⿱⺮尹 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
芦笋nounlú sǔnasparagus
笋尖nounsǔn jiānbamboo shoot tip
竹笋nounzhú sǔnbamboo shoot
雨后春笋yǔ hòu chūn sǔnlit. after rain, the spring bamboo (idiom)
石笋shí sǔnstalagmite
冬笋noundōng sǔnwinter bamboo shoots (smaller and tenderer as a result of being dug out before they come out of the soil)
莴笋wō sǔnceltuce
笋子sǔn zibamboo shoot
玉米笋yù mǐ sǔnbaby corn
茭白笋jiāo bái sǔnedible stem of Manchurian wild rice 菰, aka water bamboo
春笋nounchūn sǔnspringtime bamboo shoots
黎笋lí sǔnLe Duan (1907-1986), Vietnamese communist politician
12
Total compounds
17
As first character
83
As last character
0
As middle character

笋 appears in 12 compound words: 17 as the first character, 83 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

雨后春笋yǔ hòu chūn sǔn

lit. after rain, the spring bamboo (idiom); fig. rapid new growth; many new things emerge in rapid succession

phrase

Example Sentences

少数派Sep 2026

过去两年里,大模型的能力突飞猛进,各类配套插件与工具也如雨后春笋般涌现。

guò qù liǎng nián lǐ , dà mó xíng de néng lì tū fēi měng jìn , gè lèi pèi tào chā jiàn yǔ gōng jù yě rú yǔ hòu chūn sǔn bān yǒng xiàn .

Over the past two years, the capabilities of large language models have advanced by leaps and bounds, and all kinds of supporting plugins and tools have sprung up like mushrooms after rain.

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

像竹笋、茭白这样的蔬菜,可多煮一会。

xiàng zhú sǔn , 茭 bái zhè yàng de shū cài , kě duō zhǔ yī huì .

Vegetables like bamboo shoots and water bamboo can be cooked a little longer.

中国新闻网·生活Jul 2026

邓燕提醒,过敏急性期应避免食用海鲜、牛羊肉、芒果、竹笋、辛辣刺激食物及已知过敏食物。

dèng yàn tí xǐng , guò mǐn jí xìng qī yīng bì miǎn shí yòng hǎi xiān , niú yáng ròu , máng guǒ , zhú sǔn , xīn là cì jī shí wù jí yǐ zhī guò mǐn shí wù .

Deng Yan advises that during the acute phase of an allergic reaction, individuals should avoid seafood, beef, lamb, mangoes, bamboo shoots, spicy and irritating foods, and any foods known to cause allergies.

中国新闻网·生活May 2026

鲜竹笋爆炒前,要冷水下锅到水开后再焯煮5至10分钟。

xiān zhú sǔn bào chǎo qián , yào lěng shuǐ xià guō dào shuǐ kāi hòu zài chāo zhǔ 5 zhì 1 0 fēn zhōng .

Before stir-frying fresh bamboo shoots, place them in a pot of cold water, bring to a boil, and then blanch them for 5 to 10 minutes.

中国新闻网·文化May 2026

在这里,智慧农贸系统实时跳动,摊位上春笋还带着临安天目山的泥土,蚕豆碧绿,河虾晶莹。

zài zhè lǐ , zhì huì nóng mào xì tǒng shí shí tiào dòng , tān wèi shàng chūn sǔn hái dài zhe lín ān tiān mù shān de ní tǔ , cán dòu bì lǜ , hé xiā jīng yíng .

Here, the smart farmers’ market system operates in real time; the spring bamboo shoots on the stalls still bear traces of soil from Tianmu Mountain in Lin’an, the fava beans are a vibrant green, and the river shrimp are crystal clear.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the ⺮ (bamboo) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 笋 (sǔn) mean in Chinese?
笋 (sǔn) primarily means "bamboo shoot." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3666 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 笋 and 伊?
笋 (sǔn) and 伊 (yī) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 竹 vs 亻 (same 尹 component).
How many strokes does 笋 have?
笋 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 笋?
The radical associated with 笋 is 竹 (bamboo). This radical appears in many characters related to bamboo.
What are the components of 笋?
笋 is composed of: ⺮ (semantic), 尹 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱⺮尹 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 笋?
Common words with 笋 include: 芦笋 (lú sǔn, "asparagus"); 笋尖 (sǔn jiān, "bamboo shoot tip"); 竹笋 (zhú sǔn, "bamboo shoot"); 雨后春笋 (yǔ hòu chūn sǔn, "lit. after rain, the spring bamboo (idiom)"); 石笋 (shí sǔn, "stalagmite"). There are over 12 compound words containing this character.
Is 笋 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 笋 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 笋 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.