琐 (suǒ) is a Chinese character meaning “trivial”. It is written from 王 (king) and ⺌ (three short strokes fanning out at the top of a character) and 贝 (shell), side by side, and takes 11 strokes.
Build the character for “trivial; petty”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
王 + ⺌ + 贝
Left–right structure
- 王 king · wáng meaning
- ⺌ three short strokes fanning out at the top of a character unknown
- 贝 shell · bèi unknown
Structure from: Unicode U+7410; 现代字形拆分，依据 hanzi-writer-data 的十一笔几何核验（第 1–4 笔为左旁王，第 5–7 笔为右上⺌，第 8–11 笔为右下贝）
Memory aid
Jade (王) beside tiny (⺌) shells (贝): a pile of little trinkets — small, fiddly and trivial. That is 琐.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
11 strokes
In real words
- 琐碎suǒ suìtrivial; fragmentary琐 = suǒ
- 繁琐fán suǒtedious; overelaborate琐 = suǒ
Go deeper
All readings
trivial; petty
trivial; petty; fragmentary; tedious and detailed
细小的；零碎的。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 琐碎suǒ suìtrivial; fragmentary琐 = suǒ
- 繁琐fán suǒtedious; overelaborate琐 = suǒ
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 琐 mean?
琐 (suǒ) means trivial; petty; fragmentary; tedious and detailed.
How do you pronounce 琐?
It is pronounced suǒ.
What parts is 琐 made of?
王 (king) and ⺌ (three short strokes fanning out at the top of a character) and 贝 (shell), side by side. The recorded source is: Unicode U+7410; 现代字形拆分，依据 hanzi-writer-data 的十一笔几何核验（第 1–4 笔为左旁王，第 5–7 笔为右上⺌，第 8–11 笔为右下贝）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 琐 have?
11. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 琐?
玉. 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 琐?
Common ones are 琐碎 and 繁琐. The reading of 琐 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.