商 (shāng) is a Chinese character meaning “commerce”. It is written from 亠 (lid) and 丷 (two spreading strokes) and 冏 (frame with two spreading strokes and a box inside (lower part of 商)), one above the other, and takes 11 strokes.
Build the character for “commerce”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
亠 + 丷 + 冏
Top–bottom structure
- 亠 lid · tóu unknown
- 丷 two spreading strokes unknown
- 冏 frame with two spreading strokes and a box inside (lower part of 商) · jiǒng unknown
Structure from: Unicode U+5546; modern decomposition candidate checked against hanzi-writer-data stroke geometry (11 strokes = 亠2 + 丷2 + 冏7)
Memory aid
A lid (亠) on top, two little pennants (丷) fluttering under it, and a shopfront window (冏) with goods displayed inside — a shop open for trade.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
11 strokes
In real words
- 商店shāng diànshop; store商 = shāng
- 商人shāng rénmerchant; businessman商 = shāng
- 商业shāng yècommerce; business商 = shāng
- 商埠shāng bùtrading port; commercial port (esp. a historical treaty port)商 = shāng
- 商贾shāng gǔmerchants; traders (literary)商 = shāng
Go deeper
All readings
commerce; to discuss
commerce; trade; business; merchant; to discuss, to consult; quotient (math); the Shang dynasty
买卖、贸易；做买卖的人。也指商量、讨论；数学上指除法的得数；又指商朝。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 商店shāng diànshop; store商 = shāng
- 商人shāng rénmerchant; businessman商 = shāng
- 商业shāng yècommerce; business商 = shāng
- 商埠shāng bùtrading port; commercial port (esp. a historical treaty port)商 = shāng
- 商贾shāng gǔmerchants; traders (literary)商 = shāng
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 商 mean?
商 (shāng) means commerce; trade; business; merchant; to discuss, to consult; quotient (math); the Shang dynasty.
How do you pronounce 商?
It is pronounced shāng.
What parts is 商 made of?
亠 (lid) and 丷 (two spreading strokes) and 冏 (frame with two spreading strokes and a box inside (lower part of 商)), one above the other. The recorded source is: Unicode U+5546; modern decomposition candidate checked against hanzi-writer-data stroke geometry (11 strokes = 亠2 + 丷2 + 冏7). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 商 have?
11. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 商?
口. 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 商?
Common ones are 商店, 商人, 商业. The reading of 商 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.