剎 meaning and stroke order
Temple, shrine, monastary; an instant, a moment; to brake
How to write 剎, stroke by stroke
9 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 剎
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- Buddhist monastery, temple or shrine (abbr. for 剎多羅|刹多罗[cha4 duo1 luo2], Sanskrit "ksetra")
- to brake
How 剎 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Knife.
刂 gives the meaning and 杀 hints at the sound.
Radical: 刂 (knife), shared by 71 characters on this site.
How to remember 剎
剎 is built from 杀 (shā, to kill), which gives the sound, and the knife radical 刂. Picture a knife cutting motion sharply, the way you slam the brakes and cut a car's movement to a stop.
Read shā, it mostly appears in 刹车 (shāchē, to brake). Read chà, it means a Buddhist temple, as in 古刹 (gǔchà, ancient temple), or an instant, as in 刹那 (chànà). Example: 他突然刹车了。(Tā tūrán shāchē le.) He suddenly hit the brakes.
Common mistake: Learners often read 刹那 as shānà, but in 刹那 and 一刹那 the character is chà, fourth tone. Only the braking sense uses shā.
Common words with 剎
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
Questions about 剎
How many strokes are in 剎?
剎 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 剎 mean?
剎 (shā) means temple, shrine, monastary; an instant, a moment; to brake. A common word with it is 刹车 (shāchē), meaning "to brake (when driving); to stop".
How do you pronounce 剎?
剎 is pronounced shā, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 剎?
The radical of 剎 is 刂, which carries the idea of "knife". Dictionaries list 剎 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 剎?
剎 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 刹, used in mainland China and Singapore.
What is the difference between 剎 and 刹?
They are the same character. 剎 is a variant form, and 刹 is the standard form used in mainland China and in the common words listed here.
Why does a character with a knife radical mean temple?
The temple and instant meanings come from Sanskrit loanwords. 刹 (chà) was used for its sound to shorten 刹多罗 (ksetra, temple land), and 刹那 transcribes ksana, a moment. So in these senses the meaning is borrowed, not drawn from the knife.