赎 meaning and stroke order
To redeem; to ransom
How to write 赎, 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.
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Meaning of 赎
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to redeem
- to ransom
How 赎 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. To sell 卖 a soul for money 贝; 卖 also provides the pronunciation.
Radical: 贝 (sea shell), shared by 63 characters on this site.
How to remember 赎
赎 (shú) puts money 贝 (bèi, shell) next to 卖 (mài, to sell). Think of something that was sold away, and you pay money to get it back. That is redeeming or paying a ransom.
赎 is mostly used in set words like 赎金 (shújīn, ransom), 赎回 (shúhuí, to redeem or buy back) and 赎罪 (shúzuì, to atone). 救赎 (jiùshú) is common in religious or literary writing about salvation. Example: 他把当掉的手表赎回来了。(Tā bǎ dàng diào de shǒubiǎo shú huílai le.) He bought back the watch he had pawned.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 赎 (shú) with 读 (dú, to read), since both have 卖 on the right. 读 has the speech radical 讠 and 赎 has the money radical 贝. Also, 赎 is second tone shú, not fourth tone like 卖 (mài).
Common words with 赎
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
赎 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 赎
How many strokes are in 赎?
赎 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 赎 mean?
赎 (shú) means to redeem; to ransom. A common word with it is 救赎 (jiùshú), meaning "to redeem; redemption; salvation".
How do you pronounce 赎?
赎 is pronounced shú, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 赎?
The radical of 赎 is 贝, which carries the idea of "sea shell". Dictionaries list 赎 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 赎?
The traditional form of 赎 is 贖. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 赎 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 赎 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 赎 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 赎回 and 买回?
买回 just means to buy something back. 赎回 means paying to recover something you gave up as a pledge or lost, such as a pawned item, a hostage, or an investment fund. In finance, 赎回 is the standard word for redeeming fund shares.
Is 赎 used on its own in speech?
It can be, as in 赎人 (shú rén, to ransom a person) or 把东西赎出来 (to get something out of pawn). Most of the time, though, it appears inside fixed words like 赎金 or 赎罪.