恤 meaning and stroke order
To help, to relieve, to take pity on
How to write 恤, 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 恤
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- anxiety
- sympathy
- to sympathize
- to give relief
- to compensate
- variant of 恤[xu4]
How 恤 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Heart.
忄 gives the meaning and 血 hints at the sound.
Radical: 忄 (heart), shared by 167 characters on this site.
How to remember 恤
恤 combines the heart radical 忄 with 血 (xuè, blood), which also hints at the sound. Picture a heart that bleeds for someone in trouble, so you feel pity and want to help.
恤 rarely stands alone in modern Chinese. It appears in formal words about relief and compensation, such as 抚恤 (fǔxù) and 抚恤金 (fǔxùjīn), and in 体恤 (tǐxù, to show understanding and care). Example: 他的家人领到了抚恤金。(Tā de jiārén lǐngdào le fǔxùjīn.) His family received a compensation payment.
Common mistake: Learners often read 恤 as xuè because of 血, but the correct reading is xù with a falling fourth tone. Also do not confuse it with 恤's look-alike 洫 (xù, ditch), which has the water radical 氵 instead of the heart radical.
Common words with 恤
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 抚恤 | fǔxù | (of an organization that has a duty of care) to give financial support to relatives of sb | HSK 7-9 |
| 抚恤金 | fǔxùjīn | compensation payment (for injury); relief payment |
恤 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 恤
How many strokes are in 恤?
恤 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 恤 mean?
恤 (xù) means to help, to relieve, to take pity on. A common word with it is 抚恤 (fǔxù), meaning "(of an organization that has a duty of care) to give financial support to relatives of sb ".
How do you pronounce 恤?
恤 is pronounced xù, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 恤?
The radical of 恤 is 忄, which carries the idea of "heart". Dictionaries list 恤 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 恤?
The traditional form of 恤 is 䘏, 卹 and 賉. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 恤 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 恤 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 恤 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why is a T-shirt called T恤 in Chinese?
T恤 (T xù) comes from Cantonese, where 恤 was used to transcribe the English word shirt. It has nothing to do with the meaning of pity. Today T恤 is the standard everyday word for T-shirt in Mandarin too.
What does 体恤 mean and how is it used?
体恤 (tǐxù) means to understand someone's difficulties and show consideration for them. It is often used for leaders or elders caring about others, as in 体恤下属 (tǐxù xiàshǔ), to be considerate toward subordinates.