丝 (sī) is a Chinese character meaning “silk”. It is written from ㇜ (left-falling stroke turning upward (pie-zhe)) and ㇜ (left-falling stroke turning upward (pie-zhe)) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke), and takes 5 strokes.
Build the character for “silk”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
㇜ + ㇜ + ㇐
Overlapping structure
- ㇜ left-falling stroke turning upward (pie-zhe) unknown
- ㇜ left-falling stroke turning upward (pie-zhe) unknown
- ㇐ horizontal stroke unknown
Structure from: Unicode U+4E1D; modern stroke-shape decomposition verified against hanzi-writer-data stroke geometry (strokes 1-2 and 3-4 are pie-zhe pairs, stroke 5 is a full-width heng)
Memory aid
Two threads, each a stroke that falls and turns back up (㇜), hang side by side on one long flat line (㇐) — silk drying on a rack.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
5 strokes
In real words
- 丝绸sī chóusilk fabric; silk cloth丝 = sī
- 粉丝fěn sīfans (of a person); also thin bean-starch noodles丝 = sī
- 一丝不苟yī sī bù gǒumeticulous; not the slightest bit careless丝 = sīspoken asyì sī bù gǒu
- 丝毫sī háothe slightest bit (usually with a negative)丝 = sī
- 丝绢sī juànthin silk fabric丝 = sī
- 蚕丝cán sīsilk (spun by silkworms)丝 = sī
Go deeper
All readings
silk
silk; a thread-thin strand; a tiny trace
蚕吐出的线；像线一样细的东西；极小的量。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 丝绸sī chóusilk fabric; silk cloth丝 = sī
- 粉丝fěn sīfans (of a person); also thin bean-starch noodles丝 = sī
- 一丝不苟yī sī bù gǒumeticulous; not the slightest bit careless丝 = sīspoken asyì sī bù gǒu
- 丝毫sī háothe slightest bit (usually with a negative)丝 = sī
- 丝绢sī juànthin silk fabric丝 = sī
- 蚕丝cán sīsilk (spun by silkworms)丝 = sī
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 丝 mean?
丝 (sī) means silk; a thread-thin strand; a tiny trace.
How do you pronounce 丝?
It is pronounced sī.
What parts is 丝 made of?
㇜ (left-falling stroke turning upward (pie-zhe)) and ㇜ (left-falling stroke turning upward (pie-zhe)) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke). The recorded source is: Unicode U+4E1D; modern stroke-shape decomposition verified against hanzi-writer-data stroke geometry (strokes 1-2 and 3-4 are pie-zhe pairs, stroke 5 is a full-width heng). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 丝 have?
5. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 丝?
一. 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 丝?
Common ones are 丝绸 and 粉丝. The reading of 丝 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.