(): trick, drama, play, show, CL:齣|出[chu1],場|场[chang3],臺|台[tai2]

() is a Chinese character meaning “trick.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #1032 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a hand 又 doing tricks with a spear 戈. Its radical form (halberd) appears in many related characters such as (, I), (chéng, to succeed), (huò, maybe).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. trick
  2. drama
  3. play
  4. show
  5. Classifier: 齣|出[chu1],場|场[chang3],臺|台[tai2]

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA hand 又 doing tricks with a spear 戈

Decomposition: ⿰又戈 (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
nounyóu xìgame3
nounxì jùa drama5
nounxì qǔChinese opera6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
yǎn xìto put on a play
mǎ xì tuáncircus
bǎ xìacrobatics
méi xì(coll.) not a chance
xì jù xìngdramatic
yóu xì jīvideo game machine
xì yuàntheater
xì nòngto play tricks on
diàn zǐ yóu xìcomputer and video games
tiáo xìto take liberties with a woman
xì fǎmagic trick
ér xìchild's play
xī xìto frolic
mǎ xìcircus
pāi xìto shoot a movie
100
Total compounds
25
As first character
65
As last character
10
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 25 as the first character, 65 as the last, and 10 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.

yóu
0.875618,422 co-occurrences
0.59087,406 co-occurrences
wán
0.45820,426 co-occurrences
0.4401,254 co-occurrences
diàn
0.42134,224 co-occurrences
bàn
0.4176,042 co-occurrences
kuǎn
0.40413,050 co-occurrences
mào
0.3902,934 co-occurrences
nǎo
0.3803,108 co-occurrences
lào
0.3765,346 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

chàng duìtáixìHSK 4+

to stage a rival show

verb
féng chǎng zuò xìHSK 7+

lit. find a stage, put on a comedy (idiom); to join in the fun; to play along according to local conditions

phrase
màozi xìfǎHSK 4+

hat trick (three goals scored by one player in a game)

noun
náshǒuhǎoxìHSK 3+

one's forte

phrase

Showing 4 of 5 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这出演得很精彩,观众掌声不断。

Zhè chū xì yǎn de hěn jīngcǎi, guānzhòng zhǎngshēng bùduàn.

This play was performed wonderfully, with continuous applause from the audience.

99 健康网Feb 2026

...无糖食品要注意什么?警惕“无蔗糖”文字游

. . . wú táng shí pǐn yāo zhù yì shén má ? jǐng tì wú 蔗 táng wén zì yóu xì ma

... What should I look out for in sugar-free food? Beware of "sucrose-free" word games

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

(新春走基层)山西新绛:七星坡上坐满看

( xīn chūn zǒu jī céng ) shān xī xīn 绛 : qī xīng pō shàng zuò mǎn kàn xì rén

(New Year at the grassroots level) Shanxi Xinjiang: The Qixing Slope is full of theatergoers

UnwireFeb 2026

...立 NGO 组织 转型长期倡议平台推动游保护立法

. . . lì N G O zǔ zhī zhuǎn xíng cháng qī chàng yì píng tái tuī dòng yóu xì bǎo hù lì fǎ

... Establish the NGO Transformation Long-Term Initiative Platform to promote game protection legislation

百度新闻Feb 2026

南阳一马团女演员高空表演不慎坠落,目击者称其坚持...

nán yáng yī mǎ xì tuán nǚ yǎn yuán gāo kōng biǎo yǎn bù shèn zhuì luò , mù jī zhě chèn qí jiān chí . . .

Nanyang, a circus performer accidentally fell from a high altitude performance, witnesses said it insisted...

百度新闻Feb 2026

与沈腾马丽一起“搭”的机器人,还藏着这样的技术突..

yú 沈 téng mǎ lí yī qǐ dā xì de jī qì rén , hái zàng zhe zhè yàng de jì shù tū . .

With Shen Teng Ma Li with the "play" robot, but also hides such a technologi...

Tatoeba

开始变得有趣。

Yóuxì kāishǐ biànde yǒuqù.

The game is becoming more engaging.

Tatoeba

南希喜欢室内游

Nánxī xǐhuan shìnèi yóuxì.

Nancy enjoys indoor games.

Tatoeba

法人人会变,各有巧妙不同。

Xìfǎ rénrén huì biàn, gè yǒu qiǎomiào bù tóng.

Everyone's tricks are different; each differs in ingenious ways.

Tatoeba

孩子们在尘土里游

Háizimen zài chéntǔ lǐ yóuxì.

The children were playing in the dirt.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 戏 (xì) mean in Chinese?
戏 (xì) primarily means "trick." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1032 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 戏 have?
戏 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 戏?
The radical associated with 戏 is 戈 (halberd). This radical appears in many characters related to halberd.
What are the components of 戏?
戏 is composed of: 又 (structural), 戈 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰又戈 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 戏?
Common words with 戏 include: 游戏 (yóu xì, "game"); 戏剧 (xì jù, "a drama"); 演戏 (yǎn xì, "to put on a play"); 马戏团 (mǎ xì tuán, "circus"); 把戏 (bǎ xì, "acrobatics"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 戏 (xì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xì: 吸 (to breathe), 西 (the West), 希 (to hope), 息 (breath), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 戏 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 戏 and the traditional form is 戯.

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.