诉 (sù) is a Chinese character meaning “to tell”. It is written from 讠 (speech radical) and 斥 (to rebuke; to drive away), side by side, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “to tell; to complain”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
讠 + 斥
Left–right structure
Structure from: 现代简化字形拆分（对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画：第 1–2 笔为「讠」，第 3–7 笔为「斥」）
Memory aid
Speech (讠) standing next to 斥, "to rebuke". Words used to push back at something: you tell what happened, and you complain about it.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 告诉gào sùto tell; to let someone know诉 = sùspoken asgào su
- 诉讼sù sònglawsuit; litigation诉 = sù
Go deeper
All readings
to tell; to complain
to tell; to inform; to complain about; to accuse; to bring a legal case
把事情说给别人听；也指把委屈说出来，或向法院提出控告。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 告诉gào sùto tell; to let someone know诉 = sùspoken asgào su
- 诉讼sù sònglawsuit; litigation诉 = sù
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 诉 mean?
诉 (sù) means to tell; to inform; to complain about; to accuse; to bring a legal case.
How do you pronounce 诉?
It is pronounced sù.
What parts is 诉 made of?
讠 (speech radical) and 斥 (to rebuke; to drive away), side by side. The recorded source is: 现代简化字形拆分（对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画：第 1–2 笔为「讠」，第 3–7 笔为「斥」）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 诉 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 诉?
讠. 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 诉?
Common ones are 告诉 and 诉讼. The reading of 诉 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.