石 (shí) is a Chinese character meaning “stone”. It is written from 厂 (factory; cliff radical) and 口 (mouth), one enclosing the other, and takes 5 strokes.
Build the character for “stone; rock”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
厂 + 口
Enclosing structure
Structure from: Unicode U+77F3 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (5 strokes = 厂 2 + 口 3)
Memory aid
A cliff face (厂) with a broken-off lump (口) resting under its overhang — that lump is a stone.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
5 strokes
In real words
- 石头shí toustone; rock石 = shí
- 玉石yù shíjade; jade stone石 = shí
- 岩石yán shírock石 = shí
- 石臼shí jiùstone mortar石 = shí
- 宝石bǎo shígemstone; precious stone石 = shí
- 石油shí yóupetroleum; crude oil石 = shí
- 砂石shā shísand and gravel石 = shí
- 砾石lì shígravel石 = shí
- 蒋介石Jiǎng JièshíChiang Kai-shek (1887–1975), Chinese political and military leader石 = shí
- 钻石zuàn shídiamond石 = shí
- 陨石yǔn shímeteorite石 = shí
Go deeper
All readings
stone; rock
stone; rock; mineral matter
构成地壳的坚硬物质；岩石，也指石制的东西。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 石头shí toustone; rock石 = shí
- 玉石yù shíjade; jade stone石 = shí
- 岩石yán shírock石 = shí
- 石臼shí jiùstone mortar石 = shí
- 宝石bǎo shígemstone; precious stone石 = shí
- 石油shí yóupetroleum; crude oil石 = shí
- 砂石shā shísand and gravel石 = shí
- 砾石lì shígravel石 = shí
- 蒋介石Jiǎng JièshíChiang Kai-shek (1887–1975), Chinese political and military leader石 = shí
- 钻石zuàn shídiamond石 = shí
- 陨石yǔn shímeteorite石 = shí
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 石 mean?
石 (shí) means stone; rock; mineral matter.
How do you pronounce 石?
It is pronounced shí.
What parts is 石 made of?
厂 (factory; cliff radical) and 口 (mouth), one enclosing the other. The recorded source is: Unicode U+77F3 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (5 strokes = 厂 2 + 口 3). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 石 have?
5. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 石?
石. 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 石?
Common ones are 石头 and 玉石. The reading of 石 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.