刪 meaning and stroke order
To delete; to cut; to censor
How to write 刪, stroke by stroke
7 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 刪
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to delete
How 刪 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. To cut 刂 out passages from a book 冊.
Radical: 刂 (knife), shared by 71 characters on this site.
How to remember 刪
On the left is 冊, a book made of bound strips, and on the right is the knife 刂. Picture cutting passages out of a book with a knife, and you have 刪 (shān), to delete.
刪 is mostly used in compound words about removing text, files, or content, especially 删除 (shānchú) and 删掉 (shāndiào). In mainland China it is written 删 with 册 on the left. Example: 我把那条消息删掉了。(Wǒ bǎ nà tiáo xiāoxi shāndiào le.) I deleted that message.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes read 刪 with the third tone, like 闪 (shǎn, to flash), but it is first tone shān. Also do not confuse it with 删 vs 栅 (zhà, fence), which has the wood radical 木 instead of the knife.
Common words with 刪
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
Questions about 刪
How many strokes are in 刪?
刪 is written with 7 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 刪 mean?
刪 (shān) means to delete; to cut; to censor. A common word with it is 删除 (shānchú), meaning "to delete; to cancel".
How do you pronounce 刪?
刪 is pronounced shān, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 刪?
The radical of 刪 is 刂, which carries the idea of "knife". Dictionaries list 刪 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 刪?
刪 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 删, used in mainland China and Singapore.
What is the difference between 删除 and 删掉?
删除 (shānchú) is more formal and is the word you see on computer buttons and in official writing. 删掉 (shāndiào) is more colloquial and stresses that the thing is gone, as in 删掉照片 (shāndiào zhàopiàn), delete the photos.
Can 刪 mean to censor or edit a text?
Yes. It can mean cutting parts out of writing, as in 删改 (shāngǎi), to delete and revise, or 删节 (shānjié), to abridge. So it covers both deleting a file and trimming or censoring a text.