Chinese Characters Starting with "S start"

Every character has an origin. Discover the pictographs, myths, and history behind each Chinese character — with pinyin, stroke order, HSK level, and audio pronunciation.

僧

sēng

This 'monk' character hides a steamer pot in its s

傞

suō

This 12-stroke literary ghost survives solely to d

倏

shū

Originally two mythic emperors who killed Chaos wi

俟

sì

This 'wait' character hides a coiled snake (巳) —

侍

shì

Though it means 'to serve,' 侍 isn’t about chores

侁

shēn

This 'crowd' character isn’t drawn from bodies—i

仨

sā

Born in Beijing alleyways, not ancient bronzes —

仕

shì

This 5-stroke character hides China’s entire impe

筲

shāo

This 'basket' character hides a phonetic secret:

骚

sāo

A 'noble horse in turmoil' — this 12-stroke chara

饲

sì

This 'feeding' character hides an ancient manager'

颂

sòng

Born as a bronze-age ritual chant before altars,

霜

shuāng

This ‘frost’ character hides a secret: its botto

隧

suì

Its radical 阝 means 'mound'—so 隧 literally mean

逝

shì

This elegant 10-stroke character began as a bronze

竖

shù

This character began as a bronze-age image of a wa

诵

sòng

This character’s ‘pipe’ phonetic (甬) isn’t de

誓

shì

This 'oath' character hides a silent scream: its r

讼

sòng

Its right side is 公 (‘public’), its left is 讠

衰

shuāi

This character began as a pictograph of fraying he

蚀

shí

This character began as a worm devouring grain—an

艘

sōu

Born over 2,300 years ago to count warships on the

舌

shé

This character began as a wiggling tongue poking f

肆

sì

This 'four' isn't for counting — it's a 13-stroke

耸

sǒng

This 'ear' character doesn’t mean listen — it de

耍

shuǎ

This 'play' character hides a bearded performer—i

署

shǔ

This 'office' character began as a pictograph of a

绅

shēn

This character began as a pictograph of a silk sas

筛

shāi

This bamboo-basket character evolved from ancient

瞬

shùn

This 17-stroke character began as a drawing of eye

疏

shū

This ‘dredge’ character began as a Bronze Age im

苏

sū

Born from ancient observations of fish gasping bac

兽

shòu

Originally a ritual glyph for ominous animal omens

牲

shēng

This 9-stroke character began as an oracle bone ox

爽

shuǎng

This 'bright' character began as four X-shaped win

烁

shuò

Though it looks like 'fire + music', 烁 has zero t

涩

sè

Though it looks like 'water + knife', 涩 isn’t ab

渗

shèn

Its right side 参 (cān) means 'to join' — reveal

涮

shuàn

This 11-stroke 'swish' character evolved from brus

涉

shè

This character began as two feet straddling flowin