吮 meaning and stroke order
To suck, to sip, to lick
How to write 吮, 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 吮
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to suck
How 吮 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Mouth.
口 gives the meaning and 允 hints at the sound.
Radical: 口 (mouth), shared by 428 characters on this site.
How to remember 吮
吮 is a pictophonetic character: 口 (mouth) on the left tells you it is something done with the mouth, and 允 (yǔn) on the right hints at the sound. Picture a mouth 口 gently pulling in liquid, the way a baby sucks milk.
吮 is rarely used alone in everyday speech and mostly appears in the words 吮吸 (shǔnxī) and 吸吮 (xīshǔn), which sound a bit literary or descriptive. Example: 婴儿在吮吸手指。(Yīng'ér zài shǔnxī shǒuzhǐ.) The baby is sucking its finger.
Common mistake: Learners often read 吮 as yǔn because of the phonetic part 允, but the correct reading is shǔn with a third tone. Also do not confuse it with 吸 (xī), which is the general word for inhaling or sucking in, while 吮 stresses the action of the lips.
Common words with 吮
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 吮吸 | shǔnxī | to suck | |
| 吸吮 | xīshǔn | to suck on (sth); to suck in |
吮 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 吮
How many strokes are in 吮?
吮 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 吮 mean?
吮 (shǔn) means to suck, to sip, to lick. A common word with it is 吮吸 (shǔnxī), meaning "to suck".
How do you pronounce 吮?
吮 is pronounced shǔn, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 吮?
The radical of 吮 is 口, which carries the idea of "mouth". Dictionaries list 吮 under this radical.
What is the difference between 吮吸 and 吸吮?
Both mean to suck and are largely interchangeable. 吮吸 is the more common order in modern writing, while 吸吮 appears often in descriptive or written texts.
How do you say to suck through a straw in everyday Chinese?
In casual speech people usually just say 吸 (xī), as in 用吸管吸 (yòng xīguǎn xī). Using 吮 here would sound overly formal or literary.