袖 meaning and stroke order
Sleeve
How to write 袖, stroke by stroke
10 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
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- 10
Meaning of 袖
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- sleeve
- to tuck inside one's sleeve
How 袖 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Clothes.
衤 gives the meaning and 由 hints at the sound.
Radical: 衤 (cloth), shared by 72 characters on this site.
How to remember 袖
The left side 衤 is the clothing radical, and 由 (yóu) on the right gives the sound. Picture 由 as an arm poking out from the clothes: the part of a garment your arm comes through is the sleeve.
On its own 袖 is mostly found in words like 袖子 (xiùzi) for a sleeve and 袖口 (xiùkǒu) for a cuff. It also appears in 领袖 (lǐngxiù, leader) and 袖珍 (xiùzhēn, pocket-sized). Example: 这件衣服的袖子太长了。(Zhè jiàn yīfu de xiùzi tài cháng le.) The sleeves of this piece of clothing are too long.
Common mistake: Learners often write the left side as 礻 (the spirit radical) instead of 衤. The clothing radical 衤 has an extra short stroke at the bottom. Also, 袖 is read xiù, not yóu like its phonetic part 由.
Common words with 袖
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
袖 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 袖
How many strokes are in 袖?
袖 is written with 10 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 袖 mean?
袖 (xiù) means sleeve. A common word with it is 领袖 (lǐngxiù), meaning "leader".
How do you pronounce 袖?
袖 is pronounced xiù, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 袖?
The radical of 袖 is 衤, which carries the idea of "cloth". Dictionaries list 袖 under this radical.
Is 袖 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 袖 is part of the HSK 6 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does 领袖 mean leader if 袖 means sleeve?
领 is a collar and 袖 is a sleeve, the two most visible parts of traditional clothing. Together they came to mean a person who stands out and guides others, a leader.
What does 袖手旁观 mean and when is it used?
It literally means to tuck your hands in your sleeves and watch from the side. It describes someone who stands by and does nothing to help, and it usually carries criticism, as in 我们不能袖手旁观 (wǒmen bù néng xiùshǒu-pángguān), we cannot just stand by.