Meaning of 酸
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- sour
- tart
- sick at heart
- grieved
- sore
- aching
- pedantic
- impractical
How to use 酸
酸 describes sour tastes, aching muscles, and sad feelings, and in chemistry it means acid, as in 硫酸 (liúsuān, sulfuric acid). It often appears with 疼 or 痛 for soreness. Example: 我跑完步腿很酸。(Wǒ pǎo wán bù tuǐ hěn suān.) My legs are sore after running.
The left side 酉 (yǒu) is a wine jar, a part found in many characters about fermentation like 酒 (jiǔ, alcohol) and 醋 (cù, vinegar). Picture a jar of wine left out too long until it turns sour.
Common mistake: Learners often say 酸 when they mean spicy or bitter. Spicy is 辣 (là) and bitter is 苦 (kǔ), while 酸 is only for sour or tart flavors like lemon or vinegar. Also keep the first tone flat in suān; do not let it drift into suàn, which is 算 (to calculate).
酸 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.
酸 suān · sour · 14 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 酸.
Questions about 酸
What does 酸 mean?
酸 (suān) means "sour; tart" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 酸?
酸 is made of 1 character: 酸 (14 strokes). That is 14 strokes in total.
Is 酸 an HSK word?
Yes. 酸 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What does 酸 mean when describing a person or their words?
It can mean jealous or bitter, as in 说酸话 (shuō suān huà), to make jealous remarks. It can also mean pedantic or stuffy, like an old scholar, which shows up in 寒酸 (hánsuān), shabby and poor.
How do you say your eyes or nose sting with emotion using 酸?
Chinese uses 鼻子一酸 (bízi yì suān), the nose stings, to describe being about to cry. 心酸 (xīnsuān) means feeling sad or heartbroken.