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

xǐng to wake up, to startle; to sober up 16 strokes · Radical 酉 (wine) · HSK 4 recognition character (认读字)

👁 Recognition only: the official HSK 4 syllabus asks you to recognize 醒 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 xǐng.

to wake up
to startle
to sober up

Stroke Order & Practice

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

醒 — 16 strokes, numbered in writing order. 笔顺图（数字为下笔顺序）。

Decomposition

醒 breaks down into 2 components arranged as Left + Right. Recognizing the components makes the character easier to remember and write.

醒 =

酉 left wine

星 right star

Radical

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

Other HSK 4 characters that share this radical: 酸.

How the character is built

醒 is a phono-semantic compound. The semantic component 酉 (wine) carries the meaning, while the phonetic component 星 originally indicated the sound.

HSK 4 Words Containing 醒

提醒 tíxǐng to remind; to alert

谢谢你提醒我。

Xièxie nǐ tíxǐng wǒ.

Thank you for reminding me.

醒 xǐng regain consciousne

to wake up; to 他每天早上六点就醒了。

Tā měitiān zǎoshang liù diǎn jiù xǐng le.

ss He wakes up at six every morning.

Seen in the Real Exams / 真题例句

醒 appears in 31 questions across the 19 mock & official HSK 4 exams on this site. Real exam sentences using it:

有的人睡醒之后还记得梦里的事情，有的人却记不清楚了。

From Mock Exam 12 →

医生提醒人们，在使用感冒药之前，一定要仔细阅读说明书。

From Mock Exam 02 →

每当后面汽车的灯光照到它时，它就会发光，这样就能提醒司机前方有人。

From Mock Exam 17 →

Tasks Featuring 醒 / 相关任务

Words containing 醒 appear in these official HSK 4 task scenarios — study the character in context:

📚 谈论就医情况、健康生活

Health & Medical · 醒

FAQ

What does 醒 mean in Chinese?

醒 (xǐng) means to wake up, to startle; to sober up. It is one of the 441 characters HSK 4 requires you to recognize when reading (认读字).

How many strokes does 醒 have?

醒 is written in 16 strokes. Use the practice tool above to see the correct stroke order and trace it yourself.

What is the radical of 醒?

The radical of 醒 is 酉 (wine). Other HSK 4 characters with the same radical include 酸.

What is the pinyin for 醒?

醒 is pronounced xǐng.

What HSK 4 words use 醒?

In our HSK 4 vocabulary, 醒 appears in 2 words, including 提醒 (tíxǐng), 醒 (xǐng). See the full list above.