喪 meaning and stroke order
Mourning; mourn; funeral
How to write 喪, stroke by stroke
12 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Meaning of 喪
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- mourning
- funeral
- (old) corpse
- to lose sth abstract but important (courage, authority, one's life etc)
- to be bereaved of (one's spouse etc)
- to die
- disappointed
- discouraged
How 喪 is built
Pictographic character. To cry 哭 over the dead 亡.
Radical: 口 (mouth), shared by 428 characters on this site.
How to remember 喪
Picture two mouths 口口 crying, like in 哭 (kū, to cry), placed over 亡 (wáng, to die) at the bottom. People are weeping over someone who has died, so 喪 means mourning and loss.
Read sāng for things about funerals and mourning, as in 丧礼 (sānglǐ, funeral). Read sàng for losing something important or feeling low, as in 丧失 (sàngshī) and 沮丧 (jǔsàng). Example: 他考试没过，很沮丧。(Tā kǎoshì méi guò, hěn jǔsàng.) He failed the exam and feels very down.
Common mistake: Learners often use one tone for every word. Funeral words like 丧礼 and 丧尸 use first tone sāng, while loss words like 丧失 and 丧命 use fourth tone sàng. Also do not confuse 丧 with 表 (biǎo), which looks similar in simplified form but has no 亡-like bottom.
Common words with 喪
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 喪失 | sàngshī | to lose; to forfeit | HSK 6 |
| 沮喪 | jǔsàng | dispirited; dejected | HSK 7-9 |
| 喪生 | sàngshēng | to die; to lose one's life | HSK 7-9 |
| 垂頭喪氣 | chuítóu-sàngqì | hanging one's head dispiritedly (idiom); dejected; crestfallen | HSK 7-9 |
| 喪命 | sàngmìng | to lose one's life | |
| 喪屍 | sāngshī | zombie | |
| 喪禮 | sānglǐ | funeral | |
| 喪心病狂 | sàngxīnbìngkuáng | (idiom) deranged; demented; berserk | |
| 喪氣 | sàngqì | to feel disheartened |
Questions about 喪
How many strokes are in 喪?
喪 is written with 12 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 喪 mean?
喪 (sàng) means mourning; mourn; funeral. A common word with it is 丧失 (sàngshī), meaning "to lose; to forfeit".
How do you pronounce 喪?
喪 is pronounced sàng, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 喪?
The radical of 喪 is 口, which carries the idea of "mouth". Dictionaries list 喪 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 喪?
喪 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 丧, used in mainland China and Singapore.
Why is 丧 used in modern slang?
Young people use 丧 (sàng) to describe a gloomy, unmotivated mood, as in 丧文化 (sàng wénhuà, 'sang culture'). It comes from the sense of being discouraged, not from funerals.
Does 丧尸 mean ghost?
No. 丧尸 (sāngshī) means zombie, a walking corpse. A ghost is 鬼 (guǐ). Note that 丧尸 uses first tone because it relates to the old sense of corpse.