消 (xiāo): to diminish, to subside, to consume, to reduce, to idle away (the time)
消 (xiāo) is a Chinese character meaning “to diminish.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 肖 (phonetic). It ranks #439 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 消 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).
Definitions
- to diminish
- to subside
- to consume
- to reduce
- to idle away (the time)
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 消
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 消息noun | xiāo xi | (piece of) news | 4 |
| 消失verb | xiāo shī | to disappear | 5 |
| 取消verb | qǔ xiāo | to cancel | 4 |
| 消灭verb | xiāo miè | to put an end to | 6 |
| 消防verb | xiāo fáng | firefighting | 6 |
| 消除verb | xiāo chú | to eliminate | 6 |
| 消化verb | xiāo huà | to digest (food) | 5 |
| 消费verb | xiāo fèi | to consume (goods and services, resources etc) | 5 |
| 消极adjective | xiāo jí | negative | 5 |
| 消毒verb | xiāo dú | to disinfect | 6 |
| 消耗verb | xiāo hào | to consume | 6 |
| 消费者noun | xiāo fèi zhě | consumer | 5 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 消沉adjective | xiāo chén | to sink into despondency |
| 消逝verb | xiāo shì | to fade away |
| 消磨verb | xiāo mó | to wear down |
| 消遣verb | xiāo qiǎn | to while the time away |
| 消防队noun | xiāo fáng duì | fire department |
| 撤消verb | chè xiāo | variant of 撤銷|撤销 |
| 打消verb | dǎ xiāo | to dispel (doubts, misgivings etc) |
| 烟消云散 | yān xiāo yún sàn | (idiom) to vanish like smoke in thin air |
| 抵消verb | dǐ xiāo | to counteract |
| 消亡verb | xiāo wáng | to die out |
| 小道消息 | xiǎo dào xiāo xi | hearsay |
| 消防车noun | xiāo fáng chē | fire engine |
| 消散verb | xiāo sàn | to dissipate |
| 消气verb | xiāo qì | to cool one's temper |
| 消退verb | xiāo tuì | to wane |
消 appears in 103 compound words: 80 as the first character, 15 as the last, and 6 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 消 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (12)
clouds and mist disperse; clouds dispersed and the fog lifted; troubles have disappeared
clouds and mist disperse; clouds dispersed and the fog lifted; troubles have disappeared
Showing 11 of 12 idioms containing 消.
Example Sentences
听到这个好消息，他所有的疲劳都消失了。
Tīng dào zhè gè hǎo xiāoxi, tā suǒyǒu de píláo dōu xiāoshī le.
Hearing this good news, all his fatigue disappeared.
黄金消费火热、春节不打烊,电商人一周三飞
huáng jīn xiāo fèi huǒ rè , chūn jié bù dǎ 烊 , diàn shāng rén yī zhōu sān fēi
Gold consumption is hot, the Spring Festival is not closed, and e-commerce people fly three times a week
新春跨境消费实现“丝滑”扫码,解锁人民币“走出去”...
xīn chūn kuà jìng xiāo fèi shí xiàn sī huá sǎo mǎ , xiè suǒ rén mín bì zǒu chū qù . . .
New Year's cross-border consumption to realize the "silky smooth" sweep code, unlocking the RMB "go out"...
...静安“马上有礼”第五轮即将开抢,春日焕新消费..
. . . jìng ān mǎ shǎng yǒu lǐ dì wǔ lún jí jiāng kāi qiāng , chūn rì huàn xīn xiāo fèi . .
... The fifth round of Jing'an "Gift Now" is about to start, spring renewal consumption ...
“文旅+”业态提质升级,山东新春假日文旅消费场景更..
wén lǚ yè tài tí zhì shēng jí , shān dōng xīn chūn jiǎ rì wén lǚ xiāo fèi chǎng jǐng gēng . .
"Culture and Tourism +" industry to improve the quality of upgrading, Shandong New Year's Holiday Culture and Tourism Consumption Scenarios more...
这届年轻人的消费,要花在“心窝”里
zhè jiè nián qīng rén de xiāo fèi , yāo huā zài xīn wō lǐ
This generation of young people will spend in their hearts.
你有弗雷迪的消息吗？
Nǐ yǒu Fúléi dí de xiāoxi ma?
Have you heard from Freddie?
哦！我很遗憾听到这个消息。
ó! wǒ hěn yíhàn tīngdào zhège xiāoxi.
Oh! I'm sorry to hear that.
消防车到达之前，房子就全烧了。
Xiāofángchē dàodá zhīqián, fángzi jiù quán shāo le.
The house burned to the ground before the fire truck arrived.
整个小区对这个消息很惊讶。
Zhěnggè xiǎoqū duì zhège xiāoxi hěn jīngyà.
The whole neighborhood was surprised at the news.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 消 (xiāo) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 消 and 悄?
How many strokes does 消 have?
What is the radical of 消?
What are the components of 消?
What are common words containing 消?
What characters sound the same as 消 (xiāo)?
Is 消 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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