How to write 市 (shì, “market”)
市 (shì), an HSK 1 character, means “market”, “city” and “municipality”. It is HSK 1 in the 2025 syllabus, down from level 2 in the 2021 standard. As a top-bottom character it splits into 亠 (“lid”), strokes 1–2; 巾 (“towel”, the radical), strokes 3–5, written the top first. On its own it is an HSK 3 word; it also forms 超市 (“supermarket”), 城市 (“city”) and 市场 (“marketplace”). Japanese reads it shi, “market”, as a JLPT N3 kanji.
- Pinyin
- shì
- Strokes
- 5
- HSK
- 1
- Radical
- 巾 (“towel”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- Vertical ㇑topdown and right
- Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
- Vertical ㇑leftdownwards
- Horizontal-turn-hook ㇆leftrightwards → downwards
- Vertical ㇑topdownwards
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| shì fourth tone | market; city; municipality (administrative unit); (literary) to trade; to buy and sell goods | — | 超市 城市 市场 市区 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 1
- 2021 standard
- level 2
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 3 word
- Words with it
- 163 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 市
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 市 | shì | market; city HSK 3 |
| 超市 | chāoshì | supermarket (abbr. for 超级市场 (chāojíshìchǎng)) HSK 1 |
| 城市 | chéngshì | city; town HSK 3 |
| 市场 市場 | shìchǎng | marketplace; market HSK 4 |
| 市区 市區 | shìqū | urban district; downtown HSK 4 |
| 夜市 | yèshì | night market HSK 5 |
| 市民 | shìmín | city resident; townspeople HSK 5 |
| 上市 | shàngshì | to hit the market; to float (a company on the stock market) HSK 6 |
| 都市 | dūshì | city; metropolis HSK 6 |
| 股市 | gǔshì | stock market HSK 6 |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several characters: worksheet maker.
Keep going
HSK 1, in list order: