How to write 睡 (shuì, “to sleep”)

睡 (shuì), an HSK 1 character, means “to sleep” and “to lie down”. China and Japan order its strokes differently: Chinese stroke 8, going downwards, is the 12th in Japanese schools; Chinese stroke 9, going rightwards, is the 8th in Japanese schools. On its own it is an HSK 1 word; it also forms 睡觉 (“to go to bed”), 睡眠 (“sleep”) and 睡袋 (“sleeping bag”). Japanese reads it sui, “drowsy”, as a JLPT N1 kanji.

Pinyin: shuì
Strokes: 13
HSK: 1
Radical: 目 (“eye”)

Stroke by stroke

As a left-right character it splits into 目 (“eye”, the radical), strokes 1–5; 垂 (“to hang”), strokes 6–13, written the left part first.

top leftdownwards
top leftrightwards → downwards
leftrightwards
leftrightwards
bottom leftrightwards
top rightleftwards
toprightwards
topdownwards
leftrightwards
centerdownwards
top rightdown and right → downwards
bottomrightwards
bottomrightwards

Names of the strokes

Two stroke orders

Japan and China order its strokes differently: 5 strokes sit in another place. Japanese 8 = Chinese 9; Japanese 9 = Chinese 10; Japanese 10 = Chinese 11; Japanese 11 = Chinese 12; Japanese 12 = Chinese 8.

Japanese · KanjiVG · 13 strokes

Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 13 strokes

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

Pinyin	Meanings	Traditional	In words
shuì fourth tone	to sleep; to lie down	—	睡觉睡眠睡袋沉睡

HSK 2025 syllabus: level 1
2021 standard: level 1
HSK 2.0: in a level 1 word
Words with it: 55 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 睡

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
睡	shuì	to sleep; to lie down HSK 1
睡觉睡覺	shuìjiào	to go to bed; to sleep HSK 1
睡眠	shuìmián	sleep; to sleep HSK 5
睡袋	shuìdài	sleeping bag HSK 7-9
沉睡	chénshuì	to be fast asleep; to lie dormant HSK 7-9
酣睡	hānshuì	to sleep soundly; to fall into a deep sleep HSK 7-9
午睡	wǔshuì	to take a nap in the afternoon
好睡	hǎoshuì	good night
小睡	xiǎoshuì	to nap; to doze
想睡	xiǎngshuì	drowsy; sleepy

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

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Keep going

HSK 1, in list order: