TraceHanzi

蟋 meaning and stroke order

xī

Cricket (1)

17 strokesRadical 虫
Strokes17
Pinyinxī
ToneTone 1
Frequency#4,025
Printable worksheet

How to write 蟋, stroke by stroke

17 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 蟋

Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.

xīfirst tone (high and level)
  1. used in 蟋蟀[xi1 shuai4]

How 蟋 is built

Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Insect.

chónginsect+xīto know

虫 gives the meaning and 悉 hints at the sound.

Radical: 虫 (insect), shared by 197 characters on this site.

How to remember 蟋

The left side 虫 (chóng) means insect, and the right side 悉 (xī) gives the sound. Picture an insect that knows (悉) every corner of your garden by singing in it all night.

蟋 almost never appears alone. It is used in the word 蟋蟀 (xīshuài), meaning cricket. Example: 晚上能听到蟋蟀叫。(Wǎnshang néng tīngdào xīshuài jiào.) At night you can hear crickets chirping.

Common mistake: Learners sometimes write the right side as 采 or forget the 心 at the bottom of 悉. Also remember 蟀 in 蟋蟀 is read shuài, not shuāi.

Common words with 蟋

Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.

WordPinyinMeaningLevel
蟋蟀xīshuàicricket (insect)

蟋 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

为wèi什shén么me我wǒ的de房fáng间jiān里lǐ有yǒu蟋xī蟀shuài?
Why are there crickets in my room?
笼lóng子zi里lǐ的de蟋xī蟀shuài吃chī得de跟gēn野yě生shēng的de蟋xī蟀shuài一yī样yàng多duō。
A caged cricket eats just as much as a free cricket.
蟋xī蟀shuài的de叫jiào声shēng与yǔ蛙wā鸣míng催cuī我wǒ入rù眠mián。
The sound of crickets chirping and frogs croaking lulls me to sleep.
那nà不bú是shì蟋xī蟀shuài。是shì蚂mà蚱zhà！
That's not a cricket, that's a grasshopper.

Questions about 蟋

How many strokes are in 蟋?

蟋 is written with 17 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.

What does 蟋 mean?

蟋 (xī) means cricket (1). A common word with it is 蟋蟀 (xīshuài), meaning "cricket (insect)".

How do you pronounce 蟋?

蟋 is pronounced xī, in the first tone (high and level).

What is the radical of 蟋?

The radical of 蟋 is 虫, which carries the idea of "insect". Dictionaries list 蟋 under this radical.

Can 蟋 be used by itself to mean cricket?

Not in normal modern Chinese. You need the full word 蟋蟀 (xīshuài). In casual northern speech people also say 蛐蛐儿 (qūqur) for cricket.

Is 蟋蟀 the same as a grasshopper?

No. A grasshopper is 蚱蜢 (zhàměng) or 蝗虫 (huángchóng) for locusts. 蟋蟀 is the cricket, famous in China for cricket fighting, called 斗蟋蟀 (dòu xīshuài).