How to write 室 (shì, “room”)

室 (shì), an HSK 2 character, means “room”, “work unit” and “grave”. It pairs a meaning part, 宀 (“roof”), with a sound part, 至 (“until”). On its own it is an HSK 3 word; it also forms 教室 (“classroom”), 办公室 (“office”) and 实验室 (“laboratory”). Japanese reads it shitsu, “room”, as a JLPT N4 kanji.

Pinyin: shì
Strokes: 9
HSK: 2
Radical: 宀 (“roof”)

Stroke by stroke

As a top-bottom character it splits into 宀 (“roof”, the radical), strokes 1–3; 至 (“until”), strokes 4–9, written the top first.

Vertical ㇑topdown and right
Dot ㇔top leftdownwards
Horizontal hook ㇖top leftrightwards → down and left
Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
Left-falling-turn ㇜centerdown and left → rightwards
Dot ㇔centerdown and right
Horizontal ㇐bottom leftrightwards
Vertical ㇑centerdownwards
Horizontal ㇐bottom leftrightwards

Names of the strokes

Japanese and Chinese

Japanese and Chinese draw all 9 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.

Japanese · KanjiVG · 9 strokes

Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 9 strokes

Where 室 comes from

roof

Meaning part: 宀 (“roof”)
Sound part: 至 (“until”)

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

Pinyin	Meanings	Traditional	In words
shì fourth tone	room; work unit; grave; scabbard; family or clan	—	教室办公室实验室卧室

HSK 2025 syllabus: level 2
2021 standard: level 2
HSK 2.0: in a level 2 word
Words with it: 122 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 室

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
室	shì	room; work unit HSK 3
教室	jiàoshì	classroom HSK 2
办公室辦公室	bàngōngshì	office; business premises HSK 3
实验室實驗室	shíyànshì	laboratory HSK 5
卧室臥室	wòshì	bedroom HSK 5
浴室	yùshì	bathroom; shower room HSK 6
更衣室	gēngyīshì	change room; dressing room HSK 7-9
温室溫室	wēnshì	greenhouse HSK 7-9
皇室	huángshì	royal family; imperial household HSK 7-9
寝室寢室	qǐnshì	bedroom; dormitory HSK 7-9

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

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Keep going

HSK 2, in list order: