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

shén considerably; very, extremely; a great extent 9 strokes · Radical 甘 (sweet) · HSK 4 recognition character (认读字)

👁 Recognition only: the official HSK 4 syllabus asks you to recognize 甚 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 shén.

considerably
very
extremely
a great extent

Stroke Order & Practice

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

甚 — 9 strokes, numbered in writing order. 笔顺图（数字为下笔顺序）。

Decomposition

甚 breaks down into 2 components arranged as Top + Bottom. Recognizing the components makes the character easier to remember and write.

甚 =

甘 top sweet

匹 bottom bolt of cloth

Radical

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

HSK 4 Words Containing 甚

甚至 shènzhì even; even to the point of

他很忙，甚至周末也在工作。

Tā hěn máng, shènzhì zhōumò yě zài gōngzuò.

He's very busy, he even works on weekends.

Seen in the Real Exams / 真题例句

甚 appears in 16 questions across the 19 mock & official HSK 4 exams on this site. Real exam sentences using it:

长期这样，会影响脾气甚至性格。

From Mock Exam 11 →

很多时候，我们不得不去做一些自己不愿意做甚至很讨厌的工作。

From Mock Exam 08 →

FAQ

What does 甚 mean in Chinese?

甚 (shén) means considerably; very, extremely; a great extent. It is one of the 441 characters HSK 4 requires you to recognize when reading (认读字).

How many strokes does 甚 have?

甚 is written in 9 strokes. Use the practice tool above to see the correct stroke order and trace it yourself.

What is the radical of 甚?

The radical of 甚 is 甘 (sweet).

What is the pinyin for 甚?

甚 is pronounced shén.

What HSK 4 words use 甚?

In our HSK 4 vocabulary, 甚 appears in 1 word, including 甚至 (shènzhì). See the full list above.