敘 meaning and stroke order
To express, to state; to relate, to narrate
How to write 敘, stroke by stroke
11 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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- 11
Meaning of 敘
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to narrate
- to chat
How 敘 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Again.
攵 gives the meaning and 余 hints at the sound.
Radical: 攵 (to rap), shared by 36 characters on this site.
How to remember 敘
敘 combines 余 (yú), which hints at the sound, with 攵, a hand holding a stick that suggests action. Picture someone tapping out the rhythm as they tell a story, going over the events again and again.
敘 is the traditional form; in mainland simplified writing you will usually see 叙. It appears mostly in compound words about telling or chatting, such as 叙述 (xùshù) and 叙旧 (xùjiù). Example: 我们好久没见，一起叙叙旧吧。(Wǒmen hǎojiǔ méi jiàn, yìqǐ xùxu jiù ba.) We haven't met in ages, let's catch up on old times.
Common mistake: Learners often read 敘 as yú because of the 余 component, but the correct reading is xù with a fourth tone. Also do not confuse it with 序 (xù, order or preface), which sounds the same but means sequence, as in 顺序 (shùnxù).
Common words with 敘
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
Questions about 敘
How many strokes are in 敘?
敘 is written with 11 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 敘 mean?
敘 (xù) means to express, to state; to relate, to narrate. A common word with it is 叙述 (xùshù), meaning "to relate (a story or information); to tell or talk about".
How do you pronounce 敘?
敘 is pronounced xù, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 敘?
The radical of 敘 is 攵, which carries the idea of "to rap". Dictionaries list 敘 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 敘?
敘 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 叙, used in mainland China and Singapore.
What is the difference between 敘 and 叙?
They are the same word. 敘 is the traditional form used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, while 叙 is the standard simplified form in mainland China. Both are read xù and have the same meaning.
Can 敘 be used alone as a verb?
It rarely stands alone in modern speech. It usually appears in set words like 叙述, 叙事 or 叙旧, though the reduplicated form 叙叙 (xùxu) is used casually to mean have a chat.