沙 (shā) is a Chinese character meaning “sand”. It is written from 氵 (water (left-side form)) and 少 (few; little), side by side, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “sand”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
氵 + 少
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字·水部：「沙，水散石也。从水从少。」；Unicode U+6C99 radical 85 (水)；hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：0–2 笔为氵，3–6 笔为少
Memory aid
Water (氵) with very little (少) of it left. When the water pulls back, what stays behind on the bank is sand.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 沙子shā zisand; grains of sand沙 = shā
- 沙发shā fāsofa; couch沙 = shāHSK 3
- 沙丘shā qiūsand dune沙 = shā
- 沙哑shā yǎhoarse; husky (of a voice)沙 = shā
Go deeper
All readings
sand
sand; grit; granulated; hoarse (of a voice)
细碎的石粒；也形容颗粒状的东西或沙哑的嗓音。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 沙子shā zisand; grains of sand沙 = shā
- 沙发shā fāsofa; couch沙 = shāHSK 3
- 沙丘shā qiūsand dune沙 = shā
- 沙哑shā yǎhoarse; husky (of a voice)沙 = shā
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 沙 mean?
沙 (shā) means sand; grit; granulated; hoarse (of a voice).
How do you pronounce 沙?
It is pronounced shā.
What parts is 沙 made of?
氵 (water (left-side form)) and 少 (few; little), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字·水部：「沙，水散石也。从水从少。」；Unicode U+6C99 radical 85 (水)；hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：0–2 笔为氵，3–6 笔为少. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 沙 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 沙?
水. 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 沙?
Common ones are 沙子 and 沙发. The reading of 沙 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.