Where 商 comes from
bright
- Meaning part
- 冏 (“velvetleaf”)
- Sound part
- 章 (“chapter”)
How to write 商 (shāng, “commerce”)
商 (shāng), an HSK 1 character, means “commerce”, “merchant” and “dealer”. It pairs a meaning part, 冏 (“velvetleaf”), with a sound part, 章 (“chapter”). Among the HSK words it appears in 商店 (“store”), 商场 (“shopping mall”) and 商品 (“commodity”). Japanese reads it shou, “make a deal”, as a JLPT N3 kanji.
- Pinyin
- shāng
- Strokes
- 11
- HSK
- 1
- Radical
- 口 (“mouth”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
As a top-bottom character it splits into 亠丷, strokes 1–4; 冏 (“velvetleaf”), strokes 5–11, written the top first.
- Vertical ㇑topdown and right
- Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
- Dot ㇔top leftdown and right
- Left-falling stroke ㇒topdown and right → down and left
- Vertical ㇑leftdownwards
- Horizontal-turn-hook ㇆leftrightwards → downwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒centerdownwards → down and left
- Vertical-curve-hook ㇟centerdown and right
- Vertical ㇑centerdownwards
- Horizontal-turn ㇕centerrightwards → down and left
- Horizontal ㇐bottomrightwards
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 11 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Pinyin and meaning
| Pinyin | Meanings | Traditional | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| shāng first tone | commerce; merchant; dealer; to consult; 2nd note in pentatonic scale | — | 商店 商场 商品 商量 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 1
- 2021 standard
- level 1
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 1 word
- Words with it
- 182 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 商
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 商店 | shāngdiàn | store; shop HSK 1 |
| 商场 商場 | shāngchǎng | shopping mall; shopping center HSK 2 |
| 商品 | shāngpǐn | commodity; goods HSK 4 |
| 商量 | shāngliang | to consult; to talk over HSK 4 |
| 商人 | shāngrén | merchant; businessman HSK 5 |
| 商家 | shāngjiā | merchant; business HSK 5 |
| 电商 電商 | diànshāng | e-commerce (abbr. for 电子商务 (diànzǐshāngwù)); to negotiate by telegram… HSK 5 |
| 商业 商業 | shāngyè | business; trade HSK 5 |
| 商务 商務 | shāngwù | commercial affairs; commercial HSK 5 |
| 经商 經商 | jīngshāng | to trade; to carry out commercial activities HSK 6 |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
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Keep going
HSK 1, in list order: