社 (shè) is a Chinese character meaning “society”. It is written from 礻 (spirit / altar (radical form of 示)) and 土 (earth; soil), side by side, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “society”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
礻 + 土
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字·示部：社，地主也。从示、土
Memory aid
An altar (礻) standing on the soil (土). Everyone in the village comes to the same patch of ground — that gathering is a society.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 社会shè huìsociety社 = shè
- 社区shè qūcommunity; neighborhood社 = shè
Go deeper
All readings
society; association
society; community; an organized group or agency
共同生活的人群；也指某些团体或机构。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 社会shè huìsociety社 = shè
- 社区shè qūcommunity; neighborhood社 = shè
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 社 mean?
社 (shè) means society; community; an organized group or agency.
How do you pronounce 社?
It is pronounced shè.
What parts is 社 made of?
礻 (spirit / altar (radical form of 示)) and 土 (earth; soil), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字·示部：社，地主也。从示、土. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 社 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 社?
示. 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 社?
Common ones are 社会 and 社区. The reading of 社 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.