Meaning of 死
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to die
- impassable
- uncrossable
- inflexible
- rigid
- extremely
- damned
How to use 死
死 (sǐ) means "to die," but it is also very common after adjectives or verbs to mean "extremely," as in 累死了 (lèi sǐ le, "I'm dead tired"). Example: 我饿死了。 (Wǒ è sǐ le.) I'm starving.
死 (sǐ) is made of 歹, which looks like broken bones, next to 匕, which looks like a person bending or kneeling. Picture a person kneeling beside remains to remember the meaning "to die."
Common mistake: Learners often take 饿死了 or 热死了 literally, but in daily speech they are just exaggeration meaning "extremely hungry" or "extremely hot." Also, the right side is 匕, not 七 (qī). The final stroke curves up, and it does not cross the first stroke.
死 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
死 sǐ · to die · 6 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
Related words
Words that share a character with 死.
| 死亡 | sǐwáng | to die; death |
| 生死 | shēngsǐ | life or death |
| 死心 | sǐxīn | to give up; to admit failure |
| 死心塌地 | sǐxīn-tādì | to be hell-bent on; dead set on sth; unswerving |
| 该死 | gāisǐ | Damn it!; damned |
| 杀死 | shāsǐ | to kill |
| 死去 | sǐqù | to die |
| 打死 | dǎsǐ | to kill; to beat to death |
| 要死 | yàosǐ | extremely; awfully |
| 死者 | sǐzhě | the dead; the deceased |
| 害死 | hàisǐ | to kill; to cause death |
| 死刑 | sǐxíng | death penalty; capital punishment |
Questions about 死
What does 死 mean?
死 (sǐ) means "to die; impassable" and is used as a verb and adjective.
How do you write 死?
死 is made of 1 character: 死 (6 strokes). That is 6 strokes in total.
Is 死 an HSK word?
Yes. 死 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 死 and 死亡?
死 (sǐ) is the everyday word and works in casual speech. 死亡 (sǐwáng) is formal and is used in news, statistics and medical contexts, for example 死亡人数 (sǐwáng rénshù, death toll).
Is it rude or unlucky to say 死?
Saying it directly about a real person's death can sound blunt, so people often use softer words like 去世 (qùshì, to pass away). The number 4 (sì) is also avoided by some people because it sounds similar to 死.