(xiū): shy, ashamed, shame

(xiū) is a Chinese character meaning “shy.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #2016 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, an ugly 丑 sheep 羊. Its radical form (sheep) appears in many related characters such as (yáng, sheep), (měi, (bound form) the Americas (abbr. for 美洲)), (qún, group).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. shy
  2. ashamed
  3. shame

Etymology & Origin

ideographicAn ugly 丑 sheep 羊

Decomposition: ⿸羊丑 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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
adjectivehài xiūshy4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
xiū rǔto humiliate
xiū chǐ(a feeling of) shame
xiū kuìashamed
xiū sèshy
nǎo xiū chéng nù(idiom) to become enraged over a perceived humiliation
xiū qièshy
hán xiū cǎomimosa
zhē xiū bùloincloth
pà xiūcoy
齿xiū yú qǐ chǐto be too shy to speak one's mind (idiom)
náng zhōng xiū sèto be embarrassingly short of money
xiū dā dābashful
zhē xiūto cover up one's embarrassment
jiāo xiūbashful
bì yuè xiū huālit. hiding the moon, shaming the flowers (idiom)
35
Total compounds
46
As first character
26
As last character
29
As middle character

appears in 35 compound words: 46 as the first character, 26 as the last, and 29 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.

0.75114,568 co-occurrences
kuì
0.6763,954 co-occurrences
chǐ
0.6281,972 co-occurrences
nǎo
0.575900 co-occurrences
hài
0.57513,248 co-occurrences
qiè
0.571921 co-occurrences
0.551558 co-occurrences
miǎn
0.50860 co-occurrences
cán
0.502174 co-occurrences
tiǎn
0.499144 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

bìyuèxiūhuāHSK 5+

extremely beautiful; drop dead gorgeous

phrase
lǎoxiūchéngnùHSK 6+

to become angry out of embarrassment

phrase
méi xiū méi sàoHSK 7+

shameless

phrase
nángzhōngxiūsèHSK 7+

to have financial difficulties

phrase
nǎoxiūchéngnùHSK 6+

to become angry out of embarrassment

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gě xiū zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

The character "羞" (xiū) carries different meanings in classical Chinese.

TvbsApr 2026

...拒上台“再对空气质询” 李贞秀哭了:公然辱陆配立委

. . . jù shàng tái zài duì kōng qì zhì xún lǐ zhēn xiù kū le : gōng rán xiū rǔ lù pèi lì wěi

TvbsMar 2026

...途!33岁男星沉寂3年首发声:为懦弱感到

. . . tú ! 3 3 suì nán xīng chén jì 3 nián shǒu fā shēng : wéi 懦 ruò gǎn dào xiū kuì

StheadlineMar 2026

...屈膝态度遭狠批 日网民斥:夸张表情让我感

. . . qū xī tài dù zāo hěn pī rì wǎng mín chì : kuā zhāng biǎo qíng ràng wǒ gǎn xiū kuì

...Kneeling gesture draws fierce criticism; Japanese netizens slam it: "Those exaggerated expressions make me feel ashamed"

東方日報Mar 2026

横眉冷看:他字典里没耻一词

héng méi lěng kàn : tā zì diǎn lǐ méi xiū chǐ yī cí

A cold, scornful glare: The word "shame" doesn't exist in his vocabulary.

Hk01.comMar 2026

...以“普林节”前夕袭伊:宗教宿命论与政治遮

. . . yǐ pǔ lín jié qián xī xí yī : zōng jiào sù mìng lùn yǔ zhèng zhì zhē xiū bù

...Attacking Iraq on the Eve of "Purim": Religious Determinism and a Political Fig Leaf

Tatoeba

他不因贫穷而感到愧。

Tā bù yīn pínqióng ér gǎndào xiūkuì.

He is not ashamed of being poor.

Tatoeba

你应该为你的愚蠢感到耻。

Nǐ yīnggāi wèi nǐ de yúchǔn gǎndào xiūchǐ.

You should be ashamed of your folly.

Tatoeba

我为你的卑鄙行径刚到耻。

Wǒ wèi nǐ de bēibǐ xíngjìng gāng dào xiūchǐ.

I am ashamed of your despicable deed.

Tatoeba

对啊,她以前是一个很害的女孩。

Duì ā, tā yǐqián shì yī gè hěn hàixiū de nǚhái.

Yes. She used to be a very shy girl.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the sheep radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced xiū

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 羞 (xiū) mean in Chinese?
羞 (xiū) primarily means "shy." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #2016 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 羞 have?
羞 is written with 11 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 羞?
The radical associated with 羞 is 羊 (sheep). This radical appears in many characters related to sheep.
What are the components of 羞?
羞 is composed of: 羊 (structural), 丑 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸羊丑 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 羞?
Common words with 羞 include: 害羞 (hài xiū, "shy"); 羞辱 (xiū rǔ, "to humiliate"); 羞耻 (xiū chǐ, "(a feeling of) shame"); 羞愧 (xiū kuì, "ashamed"); 羞涩 (xiū sè, "shy"). There are over 35 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 羞 (xiū)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xiū: 休 (to rest), 修 (to decorate), 朽 (rotten), 秀 ((bound form) refined), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 羞 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 羞 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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.