鲨 meaning and stroke order
Shark
How to write 鲨, stroke by stroke
15 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 鲨
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- shark
How 鲨 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Fish.
鱼 gives the meaning and 沙 hints at the sound.
Radical: 鱼 (fish), shared by 79 characters on this site.
How to remember 鲨
鲨 is a fish 鱼 (yú) sitting under sand 沙 (shā). Picture a shark gliding low over the sandy sea floor, and 沙 also gives the sound shā.
In everyday speech 鲨 almost always appears in the word 鲨鱼 (shāyú) rather than alone. Specific kinds of sharks put a descriptor in front, like 大白鲨 (dàbáishā), great white shark. Example: 海里有鲨鱼。(Hǎi lǐ yǒu shāyú.) There are sharks in the sea.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes write the top part as 少 or 砂 instead of 沙, but it must have the water radical 氵. Also keep the first tone shā, the same as 沙, and do not confuse it with 杀 (shā, to kill), which sounds identical.
Common words with 鲨
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 鲨鱼 | shāyú | shark | HSK 7-9 |
| 大白鲨 | dàbáishā | great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) |
鲨 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 鲨
How many strokes are in 鲨?
鲨 is written with 15 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 鲨 mean?
鲨 (shā) means shark. A common word with it is 鲨鱼 (shāyú), meaning "shark".
How do you pronounce 鲨?
鲨 is pronounced shā, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 鲨?
The radical of 鲨 is 鱼, which carries the idea of "fish". Dictionaries list 鲨 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 鲨?
The traditional form of 鲨 is 鯊. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 鲨 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 鲨 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 鲨 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do you say shark fin soup in Chinese?
It is 鱼翅汤 (yúchì tāng). Notice that the common term uses 鱼翅 (yúchì, fish fin) rather than the character 鲨.
Can 鲨 be used to describe a person, like loan shark in English?
Not in the same way. A loan shark is usually called 放高利贷的 (fàng gāolìdài de), so translating it literally with 鲨鱼 would sound odd to native speakers.