(sǐ) — HSK 4 Recognition Character: Meaning, Radical & Stroke Order

dead; death; impassable, inflexible 6 strokes · Radical (corpse) · HSK 4 recognition character (认读字)
👁 Recognition only: the official HSK 4 syllabus asks you to recognize 死 when reading — handwriting it is not required (that applies to the 150 writing characters). The stroke animation below is optional but helps memory.

Pronunciation & meaning

Pronounced .

Stroke Order & Practice

Click Animate to see the correct stroke order, then Practice to trace it yourself.

1 2 3 4 5 6
死 — 6 strokes, numbered in writing order. 笔顺图(数字为下笔顺序)。

Decomposition

breaks down into 2 components arranged as Upper-left envelops Inner. Recognizing the components makes the character easier to remember and write.

=
outer corpse
inner spoon

Radical

The radical of is — meaning corpse. Radicals are the indexing components used in Chinese dictionaries; they often hint at a character's broad meaning category.

How the character is built

is an ideographic compound — its meaning is suggested by the combination of its parts rather than by sound. A person kneeling 匕 before a corpse 歹.

HSK 4 Words Containing 死

to die; dead; extremely (informal)
今天热死了!
Jīntiān rè sǐ le!
It's extremely hot today!

Seen in the Real Exams / 真题例句

appears in 4 questions across the 19 mock & official HSK 4 exams on this site. Real exam sentences using it:

第二,不能读书。
From Mock Exam 19 →

FAQ

What does 死 mean in Chinese?

死 (sǐ) means dead; death; impassable, inflexible. It is one of the 441 characters HSK 4 requires you to recognize when reading (认读字).

How many strokes does 死 have?

死 is written in 6 strokes. Use the practice tool above to see the correct stroke order and trace it yourself.

What is the radical of 死?

The radical of 死 is 歹 (corpse).

What is the pinyin for 死?

死 is pronounced sǐ.

What HSK 4 words use 死?

In our HSK 4 vocabulary, 死 appears in 1 word, including 死 (sǐ). See the full list above.

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