Where 思 comes from
Weighing something with your mind 囟 (altered) and heart 心
How to write 思 (sī, “to think”)
思 (sī), an HSK 2 character, means “to think” and “to consider”. It is a character whose parts combine into its meaning. Among the HSK words it appears in 意思 (“idea”), 有意思 (“interesting”) and 没意思 (“boring”). Japanese reads it omo-u, “think”, as a JLPT N4 kanji.
- Pinyin
- sī
- Strokes
- 9
- HSK
- 2
- Radical
- 心 (“heart”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
As a top-bottom character it splits into 田 (“field”), strokes 1–5; 心 (“heart”, the radical), strokes 6–9, written the top first.
- top leftdownwards
- top leftrightwards → downwards
- toprightwards
- topdownwards
- centerrightwards
- leftdownwards
- leftdown and right → rightwards
- centerdown and right
- rightdown and right
Japanese and Chinese
The two models differ in shape, so our comparison does not claim an order; compare the numbered frames yourself (9 strokes in Japanese, 9 strokes in Chinese).
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Pinyin and meaning
| Pinyin | Meanings | Traditional | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| sī first tone | to think; to consider | — | 思想 思考 思维 思路 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 2
- 2021 standard
- level 2
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 2 word
- Words with it
- 128 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 思
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 意思 | yìsi | idea; opinion HSK 2 |
| 有意思 | yǒuyìsi | interesting; meaningful HSK 2 |
| 没意思 沒意思 | méiyìsi | boring; of no interest HSK 2 |
| 不好意思 | bùhǎoyìsi | to feel embarrassed; to find it embarrassing HSK 2 |
| 思想 | sīxiǎng | thought; thinking HSK 5 |
| 思考 | sīkǎo | to reflect on; to ponder over HSK 5 |
| 思维 思維 | sīwéi | (line of) thought; thinking HSK 5 |
| 思路 | sīlù | line of thought; way of thinking HSK 6 |
| 反思 | fǎnsī | to think back over sth; to review HSK 6 |
| 思念 | sīniàn | to think of; to long for HSK 6 |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
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Keep going
HSK 2, in list order: