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How to write 雪 (xuě, “snow”)

雪 (xuě), an HSK 1 character, means “snow” and “to wipe away”. It is HSK 1 in the 2025 syllabus, down from level 2 in the 2021 standard. It pairs a meaning part, 雨 (“rain”), with a sound part, 彐 (“snout”). On its own it is an HSK 1 word; it also forms 雪糕 (“ice cream bar”), 滑雪 (“to ski”) and 雪山 (“snow-capped mountain”). Japanese reads it setsu, “snow”, as a JLPT N3 kanji.

Pinyin
xuě
Strokes
11
HSK
1
Radical
雨 (“rain”)

Stroke by stroke

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11

As a top-bottom character it splits into 雨 (“rain”, the radical), strokes 1–8; 彐 (“snout”), strokes 9–11, written the top first.

  1. top leftrightwards
  2. top leftdownwards
  3. top leftrightwards → down and left
  4. topdownwards
  5. Dotlefta dot
  6. Dotlefta dot
  7. topdown and right
  8. centerdown and right
  9. leftrightwards → down and left
  10. bottom leftrightwards
  11. bottom leftrightwards

Names of the strokes

Japanese and Chinese

The two models differ in shape, so our comparison does not claim an order; compare the numbered frames yourself (11 strokes in Japanese, 11 strokes in Chinese).

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Japanese · KanjiVG · 11 strokes
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Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 11 strokes

Where 雪 comes from

rain

Meaning part
雨 (“rain”)
Sound part
彐 (“snout”)

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

PinyinMeaningsTraditionalIn words
xuě
third tone		snow; (literary) to wipe away (a humiliation etc)—雪糕 滑雪 雪山 冰天雪地
HSK 2025 syllabus
level 1
2021 standard
level 2
HSK 2.0
in a level 2 word
Words with it
124 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 雪

WordPinyinMeaning
雪xuěsnow; to wipe away (a humiliation etc) HSK 1
雪糕xuěgāoice cream bar; ice cream popsicle HSK 5
滑雪huáxuěto ski; skiing HSK 6
雪山xuěshānsnow-capped mountain HSK 7-9
冰天雪地bīngtiān-xuědìa world of ice and snow HSK 7-9
瑞雪ruìxuětimely snow HSK 7-9
雪上加霜xuěshàng-jiāshuāng(idiom) to make matters even worse; to add insult to injury HSK 7-9
下雪xiàxuěto snow
白雪báixuěsnow
雪亮xuěliànglit. bright as snow; shiny

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

Print at 100%. Several characters: worksheet maker.

Keep going

HSK 1, in list order: