性 (xìng) is a Chinese character meaning “nature”. It is written from 忄 (heart (left-side form)) and 生 (to be born; to grow; raw; life), side by side, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “nature — the heart you are born with”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
忄 + 生
Left–right structure
Structure from: 现代字形拆分（对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：忄 3 画 + 生 5 画 = 8 画；说文解字：性，从心生聲，右侧 生 为声符）
Memory aid
The heart radical 忄 on the left says this word lives inside a person; 生 on the right is the sound part — it means "to be born". The heart you are born with is your nature: your character, your disposition, the way you simply are.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 女性nǚ xìngfemale; woman; the female sex性 = xìng
- 男性nán xìngmale; man; the male sex性 = xìng
- 韧性rèn xìngtoughness; resilience; (of a material) ductility性 = xìng
- 性格xìng gépersonality; character性 = xìng
Go deeper
All readings
nature; character
nature; character; disposition; quality or property of something; gender; sex
人或事物本来就有的特点、品质；也指性别。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 女性nǚ xìngfemale; woman; the female sex性 = xìng
- 男性nán xìngmale; man; the male sex性 = xìng
- 韧性rèn xìngtoughness; resilience; (of a material) ductility性 = xìng
- 性格xìng gépersonality; character性 = xìng
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 性 mean?
性 (xìng) means nature; character; disposition; quality or property of something; gender; sex.
How do you pronounce 性?
It is pronounced xìng.
What parts is 性 made of?
忄 (heart (left-side form)) and 生 (to be born; to grow; raw; life), side by side. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分（对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：忄 3 画 + 生 5 画 = 8 画；说文解字：性，从心生聲，右侧 生 为声符）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 性 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 性?
心. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 性?
Common ones are 女性, 男性, 韧性. The reading of 性 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.