袖 (xiù): sleeve

袖 (xiù) is a Chinese character meaning “sleeve.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 衤 (semantic) and 由 (phonetic). It ranks #1672 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 袖 clothes. Its radical form 衤 (clothing) appears in many related characters such as 衣 (yī, clothing), 表 (biǎo, exterior surface), 装 (zhuāng, dress, install).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. sleeve

Etymology & Origin

袖

pictophoneticclothes

Decomposition: ⿰衤由 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 袖

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
袖子nounxiù zisleeve6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
领袖nounlǐng xiùleader
袖手旁观phrasexiù shǒu páng guānto watch with folded arms (idiom)
长袖adjectivecháng xiùlong sleeves
袖口nounxiù kǒucuff
袖珍adjectivexiù zhēnpocket-sized
短袖adjectiveduǎn xiùshort sleeves
衣袖nounyī xiùthe sleeve of a garment
袖章nounxiù zhāngarmband (e.g. as part of uniform or to show status)
拂袖而去phrasefú xiù ér qùto storm off in a huff (idiom)
两袖清风phraseliǎng xiù qīng fēnglit. both sleeves flowing in the breeze (idiom)
袖标nounxiù biāoarmband
袖管xiù guǎnsleeve
意见领袖yì jiàn lǐng xiùopinion leader
清风两袖qīng fēng liǎng xiùhonest and upright (idiom)
精神领袖nounjīng shén lǐng xiùspiritual leader (of a nation or church)
35
Total compounds
49
As first character
34
As last character
17
As middle character

袖 appears in 35 compound words: 49 as the first character, 34 as the last, and 17 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 袖 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

领lǐng
0.62534,784 co-occurrences
扫sǎo
0.56627 co-occurrences
衫shān
0.467502 co-occurrences
始shǐ
0.43927 co-occurrences
袍páo
0.426372 co-occurrences
党dǎng
0.4245,641 co-occurrences
珍zhēn
0.4091,286 co-occurrences
衣yī
0.4021,630 co-occurrences
旁páng
0.366623 co-occurrences
房fáng
0.36627 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

两袖清风liǎngxiùqīngfēngHSK 6+

to be uncorrupted and upright and never take bribes

phrase
清风两袖qīng fēng liǎng xiùHSK 6+

honest and upright (idiom)

phrase
袖手旁观xiùshǒupángguānHSK 6+

to put one's hands into one's sleeves and look on; to observe and do nothing; to stand by; to become a passive observer

phrase
意见领袖yì jiàn lǐng xiùHSK 6+

opinion leader

phrase
长袖善舞chángxiùshànwǔHSK 6+

to have tricks up one’s sleeve and be likely to succeed; be able to make good use of one's connections

phrase
断袖之癖duànxiùzhīpǐHSK 6+

male homosexuality

phrase
拂袖而去fúxiù'érqùHSK 6+

to leave in anger or in dissatisfaction

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这件衬衫的袖子太长了,卷起来才合适。

Zhè jiàn chènshān de xiùzi tài cháng le, juǎn qǐlái cái héshì.

The sleeves of this shirt are too long; they need to be rolled up to fit.

風傳媒Mar 2026

...位好读雨果的文艺青年,如何成为伊朗最高领袖

. . . wèi hǎo dòu yǔ guǒ de wén yì qīng nián , rú hé chéng wéi yī lǎng zuì gāo lǐng xiù

... How a literary and artistic young man who reads Hugo became the supreme leader of Iran

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

美以联手空袭 伊朗外长:最高领袖等高官都活着

měi yǐ lián shǒu kōng xí yī lǎng wài cháng : zuì gāo lǐng xiù děng gāo guān dōu huó zhe

The United States and Israel jointly launched airstrikes on Iranian Foreign Minister: The Supreme Leader and other senior officials are alive

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

伊朗最高领袖 哈米尼强硬外交抗美以

yī lǎng zuì gāo lǐng xiù hā mǐ ní qiáng yìng wài jiāo kàng měi yǐ

Iran's Supreme Leader Hamini has tough diplomacy to resist the United States and Israel

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

卫星图像显示:伊朗最高领袖住所严重损毁

wèi xīng tú xiàng xiǎn shì : yī lǎng zuì gāo lǐng xiù zhù suǒ yán chóng sǔn huǐ

Satellite images show that the residence of Iran's supreme leader was severely damaged

百度新闻Feb 2026

伊最高领袖称伊朗武器事务“与美国无关”

yī zuì gāo lǐng xiù chèn yī lǎng wǔ qì shì wù yú měi guó mó guān

Iran's Supreme Leader Says Iran's Weapons Matters "Have Nothing to Do with the U.S."

Tatoeba

夏天我穿短袖衬衫。

Xiàtiān wǒ chuān duǎnxiù chènshān.

In the summer I wear short-sleeved shirts.

Tatoeba

他们把他奉为领袖。

Tāmen bǎ tā fèng wéi lǐngxiù.

They looked up to him as their leader.

Tatoeba

你要是不答应的话,我就袖手旁观。

Nǐ yàoshi bù dāying dehuà, wǒ jiù xiùshǒupángguān.

If you don't make the promise, then I'll just stand by and watch.

Tatoeba

卷起你右边的袖子。

Juǎnqǐ nǐ yòubian de xiùzi.

Roll up your right sleeve.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 衤 (clothes) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced xiù

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 袖 (xiù) mean in Chinese?
袖 (xiù) primarily means "sleeve." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1672 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 袖 and 油?
袖 (xiù) and 油 (yóu) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 衤 vs 氵 (same 由 component).
How many strokes does 袖 have?
袖 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 袖?
The radical associated with 袖 is 衤 (clothing). This radical appears in many characters related to clothing.
What are the components of 袖?
袖 is composed of: 衤 (semantic), 由 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰衤由 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 袖?
Common words with 袖 include: 领袖 (lǐng xiù, "leader"); 袖手旁观 (xiù shǒu páng guān, "to watch with folded arms (idiom)"); 袖子 (xiù zi, "sleeve"); 长袖 (cháng xiù, "long sleeves"); 袖口 (xiù kǒu, "cuff"). There are over 35 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 袖 (xiù)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xiù: 修 (to decorate), 休 (to rest), 秀 ((bound form) refined), 羞 (shy). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 袖 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 袖 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 袖 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.