嗅 (xiù): to smell, to sniff, to nose

嗅 (xiù) is a Chinese character meaning “to smell.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (structural) and 臭 (structural). It ranks #2567 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 嗅 to taste 口 an odor 臭; 臭 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to smell
  2. to sniff
  3. to nose

Etymology & Origin

嗅

ideographicTo taste 口 an odor 臭; 臭 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰口臭 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
嗅觉nounxiù juésense of smell
嗅球xiù qiúolfactory bulb (anatomy)
嗅探xiù tànto sniff (in order to find sth)
嗅探犬nounxiù tàn quǎnsniffer dog
嗅盐nounxiù yánsmelling salts
5
Total compounds
100
As first character
0
As last character
0
As middle character

嗅 appears in 5 compound words: 100 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 0 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 嗅 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

觉jué
0.533870 co-occurrences
敏mǐn
0.482460 co-occurrences
犬quǎn
0.439166 co-occurrences
味wèi
0.435266 co-occurrences
鼻bí
0.419104 co-occurrences
探tàn
0.399224 co-occurrences
锐ruì
0.39236 co-occurrences
猛měng
0.37258 co-occurrences
咳ké
0.36610 co-occurrences
虎hǔ
0.363104 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

妈妈嗅嘱我要按时吃饭,注意身体健康。

mā mā xiù zhǔ wǒ yāo àn shí chī fàn , zhù yì shēn tī jiàn kāng .

Mom reminded me to eat on time and take care of my health.

爱范儿Jul 2026

是网友们的商业嗅觉变得更敏锐了,还是他们已经形成了对小米的固定印象?

shì wǎng yǒu men de shāng yè xiù jué biàn dé gēng mǐn ruì le , hái shì tā men yǐ jīng xíng chéng le duì xiǎo mǐ de gù dìng yìn xiàng ?

Is it that netizens have developed a keener business sense, or have they simply formed a fixed impression of Xiaomi?

中国新闻网·生活Jun 2026

嗅觉上,有焚香的气味。

xiù jué shàng , yǒu fén xiāng de qì wèi .

Olfactory-wise, there is a scent of burning incense.

中国新闻网·生活Jun 2026

例如,闻、嗅是狗的一种交流方式,它们通过闻、嗅了解周围的人或物。

lì rú , wén , xiù shì gǒu de yī zhǒng jiāo liú fāng shì , tā men tōng guò wén , xiù le jiě zhōu wéi de rén huò wù .

For example, sniffing and smelling are ways dogs communicate; they use these senses to learn about the people and objects around them.

中国新闻网·生活May 2026

侯瑞琴进一步解释,蚊子其实是靠嗅觉、视觉、温度感知并锁定目标。

Hóu ruì qín jìn yī bù jiě shì , wén zǐ qí shí shì kào xiù jué , shì jué , wēn dù gǎn zhī bìng suǒ dìng mù biāo .

Hou Ruiqin went on to explain that mosquitoes actually rely on their sense of smell, sight, and temperature to detect and lock onto their targets.

99 健康网Apr 2026

渐冻症会感觉异常嘛?视听触嗅觉通常保持正常的特征

jiān dòng zhèng huì gǎn jué yì cháng ma ? shì tīng chù xiù jué tōng cháng bǎo chí zhèng cháng de tè zhēng

Does ALS cause sensory abnormalities? Vision, hearing, touch, and smell typically remain normal.

Tatoeba

心有猛虎,细嗅蔷薇。

Xīn yǒu měng hǔ, xì xiù qiángwēi.

In me the tiger sniffs the rose.

Tatoeba

我在电梯里嗅到烟味。

Wǒ zài diàntī lǐ xiù dào yān wèi.

I smell smoke in the elevator.

Tatoeba

狗的嗅觉比人类敏锐得多。

Gǒu de xiùjué bǐ rénlèi mǐnruì de duō.

A dog's sense of smell is much keener than a human's.

Tatoeba

他一嗅到风声不对,就逃之夭夭了。

Tā yī xiù dào fēng shēng bù duì, jiù táozhīyāoyāo le.

Sensing danger, he ran away.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced xiù

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 嗅 (xiù) mean in Chinese?
嗅 (xiù) primarily means "to smell." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2567 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 嗅 have?
嗅 is written with 13 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 嗅?
The radical associated with 嗅 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.
What are the components of 嗅?
嗅 is composed of: 口 (structural), 臭 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰口臭 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 嗅?
Common words with 嗅 include: 嗅觉 (xiù jué, "sense of smell"); 嗅球 (xiù qiú, "olfactory bulb (anatomy)"); 嗅探 (xiù tàn, "to sniff (in order to find sth)"); 嗅探犬 (xiù tàn quǎn, "sniffer dog"); 嗅盐 (xiù yán, "smelling salts"). There are over 5 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 嗅 (xiù)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xiù: 修 (to decorate), 休 (to rest), 秀 ((bound form) refined), 袖 (sleeve), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 嗅 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 嗅 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 嗅 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.